Isnt tan kim her coaching india now? Thought i saw him still coaching Japan. Is someone supposed to replace him?
They made up for it by winning 3 titles at the All England. Us fans can breath a sigh of relief now . That being said, the Women department saved the day. The Men department is looking shaky as the Thomas Cup approaches.
I didn't watch any of the AE matches this time around. The time difference creates problems; but more than that, with daily updates of the devastating invasion of Ukraine, it is becoming challenging to enjoy the sport. Nevertheless, Yamaguchi seems to be in really great form! Paris is two years away, but here's hoping. She has been in Okuhara's shadow for far too long. Onto lesser events, the Swiss Open starts tomorrow, with Japan's birds facing troublesome opponents right from the start: Watanabe Koki v. Rasmus Genke Takahashi Asuka v. Kirsty Gilmour Matsui/Takeuchi v. Kusumawardana/Rambitan Yamashita/Shinoya v. Christiansen/Boje What are the odds of anyone remaining after R1?
Big relief seeing Japan team finally regain some of their performance! Watanabe and Higashino have been struggling with non-Chinese pairs the last year, which was sad. Basically, I see 2020-now have been a dark time for Japan badminton. They have many players with legendary potential, but have not been able to realize their potentials. Momota is the prime example, but what happened to him were really unfortunate. After the accident, he hasn't been the same. Matsumoto and Nagahara has the highest potential for women's doubles, but haven't show up for a long time. They have everything, attack, defense and matsutomo super ingenious talent. Watanabe and Higashino used to be suppressed by the Chinese pairs, but when they played in tourney wherein those Chinese pairs were not in, they still struggled badly vs the rest of the competition. Akane has been the only stable deliverer through out. She hasn't shown dominance that would qualify her as a legend, but very good regardless. This AE result has been a relief. Cheers Team Japan!
Do most Japanese fans not follow international tournaments? I get the impression that they think Okuhara is the better of the two, whereas international results since 2017 suggest otherwise. Play-style wise, Yamaguchi is the more exciting one to watch, imho, and judging from social media comments, Yamaguchi seems to be the more popular of the two among international fans, so this gap is quite perplexing. Takahashi has a chance. The rest can start packing their bags early, barring an upset.
The NBA's decision-making vis-a-vis tournament participation continues to confound. Nishimoto, as well as the rest of Team A, will probably next be seen at the Badminton Asia Championships.
I really hate this, as a Nishimoto's fan I know Nishimoto's ability now. Tour 500 or tour 300 was treasure to him, especially many players will play Swiss Open and skip 2 Korea tours. Badminton Asia Championships, Nishimoto's chance was small.
You know Japan; it is the domestic scene that counts. Of course being World No. 1, or having an Olympic medal is given credit, but not that much attention is paid to the international tour. Currently, Watanabe Yuta seems to be attracting most compliments, probably due to his showing at the Olympics, ... which were played on home ground. As for WS: Okuhara is far more sophisticated when it comes to verbal expression and at handing the media. Yamaguchi, by contrast, has problems projecting herself off-court, ... although, having watched both of them play live, sometimes against each other, I am in total agreement that Yamaguchi's on-court exploits are more exciting to watch. She is a fantastic player. ----- Back to Switzerland: Yamashita/Shinoya crashed out in a tight match against Christiansen/Boje. Watanabe Koki, who will be playing today, may be luckier. Rasmus Gemke seems to have withdrawn, which means that he will be facing the slightly less menacing Christo Popov.
yeah what a shame, Naru and Kyohei crashed out in a relatively tight game. They need more consistency to beat mid-tier pairs to reach QF at least.
All of Japan's players who featured in the Swiss Open are actually Team A members. Some of them may have had a challenging draw; even so, the fact that none of them got past R1 isn't exactly confidence-inspiring. So, what do we have next? The Korean Open and Korean Masters in April. Watanabe Koki and Takahashi Asuka from Team A will be participating, as will some of the B+ Team. I have no expectations here, but look out for the following: MS: Naraoka Kodai (In R1 of the Korean Open, he will be facing Kunvalut Vitidsarn. It will be interesting to witness how far the gap has widened between them.) WS: .... no hope MD: .... forget it WD: ... no entry!! XD: Midorikawa/Saito (Midorikawa is almost as exciting as Watanabe Yuta to watch (and even smaller); ... certainly too good for his partner.)
They played way too tight and committed many unforced errors. Crashing out in the first round in two consecutive tournaments must be weighing heavily on them, and now it is three tournaments in a row. They need to regain the form, and more importantly, the mindset that brought them the World Championship medals. Do they have any physical problems? Didn't appear so.
You're being too generous. They had a fairly easy path to the WC SF, the toughest opponent being Ellis/Smith, which, no offense to the English pair, but are not exactly frequent quarter-finalists or better either. These two probably would have remained in Team B had they not have a good, but also lucky, run at the World Championship. They're not at the same level as Kaneko/Matsutomo, but more at the level of the other top two Team B XD. I don't mean to put them down, but I think it's still a bit early to expect much from them. Let's give them a bit more time.
Yes, they got lucky at the WC. But with their performance yesterday, luck would not have helped. I agree that they are at B-team level and likely have trouble getting through QF. But they should be better than three consecutive first round exits. I am happy for Shinoya's WC medal. She should just relax and enjoy the rest of her career.
The descriptions for WS and MD made me chuckle, but looking at the draw, you're probably right. Let's hope some can make it to the second round at least. For MS, it's Watanabe Koki who will be facing Vitidsarn in R1. Naraoka will face Zhao Jun Peng in R1. There's a possibility of Vitidsarn and Naraoka meeting in the QF if they both make it that far. Vitidsarn probably will make it that far, whereas Naraoka will probably have to get past Jonatan Christie in R2 to get to the QF. Kind of a tough path for Naraoka, but hopefully the stars will align. As for Watanabe Koki and Takahashi Asuka, I can't help but think that they should be playing in Super 100 tournaments first to get the ranking points. Being in Team A is not doing them any good if they can't get into the main draw for tournaments where Team A is entered, or when they happened to make the main draw, the competition is just too stiff for them to get past R1 in order to earn enough ranking points to enter the top 32.
Just for Watanabe Koki, I think it's much better to degrade him back to Team B. Team A is not his level yet. For Takahashi Asuka, maybe she should be dismissed from National Team. She doesn't have a chance, no progression she made by entering National Team since her early day career. For Naru/Kyohei, maybe this year is their first and last year as National Team A, so just do whatever they can do in this whole year.
Watanabe Koki actually never did well at the Japan National, lost both times at R2 in the both years when he was chosen for Team A, so it's hard to say that he's Team A material. Except for that one good fight against Axelsen at the 2020 AE R1, he has been pretty forgettable ever since. Naraoka needs to make his presence felt this year so that he could replace Watanabe Koki in Team A next year. We'll find out soon where he's at as compared to his junior peers at the Korea Open. Takahashi Asuka seems to have gotten worse these past 2 years. She should have made better use of the few chances she get to play at an international tournament, but that match against Kirsty Gilmour was just woeful, hitting into the net and hitting out in all directions, definitely not helping her case. Midorikawa/Saito and Nishikawa/Ozaki are both in contention for that XD Team A spot. They could, very well, replace Yamashita/Shinoya next year.
I watched Naraoka lose against Tanaka Yushi in the final of last year's All Japan Championships. As far as I could tell, he lost on account of Tanaka's superior physicality and stamina. These are areas that Naraoka needs to improve;... not to mention the fact that he is not training in a team, either at the university or corporate level. Worst of all, he is glued to Papa Naraoka, which I really can't see working in his favour. WS is in woeful shape. There is no-one on the horizon who could possibly take over from Yamaguchi. ----- Well, of course, the NBA, currently, has more pressing concerns than the dire state of its A-~B Team. An article in today's Yomiuri Shimbun revealed an alleged case of 'concealment of embezzlement of public funding'. In 2018, an NBA employee allegedly embezzled 6.8 million yen of public funding allocated to the Association, a fact which the NBA apparently tried to conceal, out of 'respect for the social position and human rights of national team players, the NBA membership, and the former employee." ... How heart-warming! This stance changed when the NBA was pressed by the Japan Olympic Committee (JOC) following an investigation, to make the issue public. Money was embezzled over a period of six months, taken from the boarding costs that players (or their corporations) pay at national training camps, as well as from the 10% cut of prize money, that the NBA requires from players on international tours. I think that Zeniya Kinji's head may fall.
