Back to the Ranking Circuit. Livestreaming will be available from 10:00 between May 28 and June 1 at https://www.smash-net.tv/.
The Ranking Circuit kicked off today, featuring National Team A-/B+/B, and other highly-placed players on the domestic ranking tables. Some retirees from international competition also showed up, and demonstrated that they still had a trick or two up their sleeves. Results on Day 1 were largely predictable, but let me just list the National Team casualties: MS: Moriguchi Koshiro (National Team B) WS: None, but established players, such as Shimoda Natsumi and Hayashi Moto fell at the first hurdle. MD: Inoue/Mitsuhashi (National Team B) WD: None XD: Nidaira/Asakura (National Team B) [edit] As far as MS was concerned , it was good to see that Sakai Kazumasa, Onodera Yusuke, and Shimono Hashiru (who has officially switched to MD) can still manage to eke out wins. Tomorrow's highlight singles matches: MS: Naraoka Kodai (IMG) vs. Hatano Riku (Tonami)... Technique vs. aggression. It is a shame that these two players had to meet in R2. WS: Takahashi Asuka (Yonex) vs. Kurihara Akari (Tsukuba U.) ... Kurihara made some waves at the All Japan Championships last year. Let's see if she can take on Takahashi. WS: Kawakami Saena (Hokuto Bank) vs. Hisaminato Nana (ACT SAIKYO) ... Here, too, I am interested in seeing how much pressure last year's Inter-High School Champion can apply on Kawakami.
Asuka Takahashi lost 1st game to a NTT player. Couldn't catch the name of the player. This should wake Asuka Takahashi up a bit. Doesn't look like she spent much time practicing and training since getting involved with national team. Instead of getting better she has been going down a bit and become very prone to making unforced errors. Didn't manage to see Tanaka Yushi play. Hope he has been training hard. It's good for Kodai Naraoka to have a strong sparring partner so both can improve. I think Naraoka has improved since Thomas Cup. Maybe, coaches are investing more time with him now. Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk
Onodera Yusuke and Matsuda Aoi of the WD Hoshi/Matsuda pair, both from BIPROGY, had recently announced their retirements. Onodera will remain on the team as one of the coaches. He's currently playing in the Ranking Circuit, though, and had made it to the second round. Matsuda's retirement is a really big surprise, on the same level as Takahata Yukiko's retirement. Both retired right after making it into Team A and after skipping many Team A tournaments. Terrible timings for their partners.
Gunji and Ohori both made it past R2 and will be facing off in the QF. I am very much looking forward to it. The future of Japan's WS will be decided by this match! On the other hand, Saito Shun, the recent Spring Inter-High MS champion, who also happens to be the MD champion, went down tamely to Igarashi Yu. There has been a lot of buzz surrounding him since middle school, and he was even featured on the the show Mirai Monsters (Future Monsters), so this was kind of disappointing. Hopefully, he was just having a bad day rather than this being a telling sign of the level of Japanese high school badminton right now. As a note, his high school teammate dragged Watanabe Koki to 3 games, so maybe it was just a bad day.
Huge upset in the MS department. Watanabe Koki (National Team A) succumbed to Tonami newbie, Obayashi Takuma, in a fierce three game battle. I watched these two fight it out live at the Osaka International a few years ago. At that time, Obayashi lacked the stamina to take the final game, but not anymore, it seems. A great win, but it means that Watanabe Koki's place on Team A is now in jeopardy. His rival, Naraoka Kodai, dealt surprisingly efficiently with Hatano Riku. An easy straight-game win.
R2 of the Ranking Circuit is still being played out, but with XD, WS, and MS matches having been completed, let me just list the National Team casualties of day 2 in these categories. MS: Hatano Riku (Tonami), Watanabe Koki (BIPROGY), Takahashi Koo (Tonami) WS: Oie Natsuki (NTT-East) XD: None The QF line-up for tomorrow is: MS: Naraoka Kodai (IMG) vs. Igarashi Yu (BIPROGY) Obayashi Takuma (Tonami) vs. Shimono Hashiru (Tonami) Koga Minoru (NTT-East) vs. Omoto Shota (Hitachi Engineering) Onodera Yusuke (BIPROGY) vs. Tanaka Yushi (NTT-East) WS: Takahashi Asuka (Yonex) vs. Nidaira Natsuki (Tonami) Kayama Miho (BIPROGY) vs. Kawakami Saena (Hokuto Bank) Mizui Hirari (NTT-East) vs. Suizu Manami (ACT SAIKYO) Gunji Riko (Saishunkan) vs. Ohori Aya (Tonami) XD: Midorikawa (Waseda U.)/Saito (ACT SAIKYO) vs. Eto/Kamiyama (Nippon Sport Sc. U.) Arai (KGC)/Shimizu (Showa Denko) vs. Yamada(NTT-East)/Ikeuchi (77 Bank) Miyajima (JTEKT)/Shigeta (ACT SAIKYO) vs. Hayashitani (Mitsubishi)/Okeda (Cheerful Tottori) Takeuchi/Imai (Marusugi) vs. Nishikawa/Ozaki (NTT-East)
Good to see Shimono playing man singles again. Just because he lost in the last tournament because of stamina, he shouldn't give up. But these days I see players reluctant to push themselves too hard and become tired. In sports, unfortunately "No pain no gain" hold true. Hard to avoid this if want to make something out of their time in sports. I don't know the name of the woman single player who is a left hander but I think she played very well. Sogo? Handled racket well and has good balance when executing a smash attack. She might be a threat to Asuka Takahashi. Why is she not in quarter final? I'm not forgetting Mizui Hirari. If she can tune up a few things mostly dealing with negative thinking, she can be great tactical player. Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk
Suizu Manami of ACT SAIKYO carries the jersey number '0'. You may be referring to her. She graduated from High School this March, and is a recent addition to the team.
With MD and WD matches now complete, here's the 'National Team casualty list' and tomorrow's QF line-up. Casualties: WD: None MD: Takano/Tamate QF Matches: WD: 1. Matsumoto/Sone (Hokuto Bank) vs. Hirokami/Kato (Saishunkan) ... Matsumoto Mayu, pairing up with Sone Natsuki, and participating in the Ranking Circuit is an interesting development. Nagahara, too, tried this with Eriguchi Rena, but lost in R1. 2. Otake/Takahashi (BIPROGY) vs. Uesugi (Meiji U.)/Shinoya (NTT-East) 3. Sakuramoto (Yonex)/Suzuki (NTT-East) vs. Ono/Fukumoto (Saishunkan) 4. Shigeta/Suizu Y. (ACT SAIKYO) vs. Miyaura/Hobara (Yonex) MD: 1. Fujisawa/Nagabuchi (Tsukuba U.) vs. Midorikawa (Waseda U.)/Yamashita (NTT-East) ... Midorikawa has got through to QF in both XD and MD categories. 2. Sonoda/Kaneko (Tonami) vs. Okamura/Onodera (BIPROGY) ... Yes!!! This is Sonoda Keigo of Sonoda/Kamura ilk. And he is pairing up with Kaneko, now that Kubota has retired. This match could be interesting. 3. Takei/Endo (Meiji U.) vs. Ogata/Shibata (NTT-East) 4. Nishida/Mezaki (Tonami) vs. Umayahara/Muramoto (JTEKT)
I enjoy watching Midorikawa. Almost as sharp and fast as Yuta Watanabe. Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk
Watanabe Koki killed a sitter just outside the line at 19-20 to fail to bring the 3rd game to a deuce. Story of his time in Team A: golden opportunity presented, but just fails to take it. It would be a travesty if Naraoka doesn't replace Watanabe in Team A next year. It has been at least one year overdue already.
It is Quarter-Final day at the Ranking Circuit. XD matches are finished, as should WS matches have been, but unfortunately, eighteen-year-old Suizu Manami squandered four match points, and will now face a third and final game against Mizui Hirari. Mizui is looking as heavy-footed as was the case in All Japan Championships final, with the negative body language to match. She really is not fun to watch. Ohori vs. Gunji, the other match that was streamed, proved much more watchable. The fact that Gunji was unable to make any inroads against Ohori, however, showed that she is not quite as talented as we hoped she would be. Results so far... XD: Midorikawa (Waseda U.)/Saito (ACT SAIKYO) 2-0 (21-16, 21-10) Eto/Kamiyama (Nippon Sport Sc. U.) Yamada(NTT-East)/Ikeuchi (77 Bank) 2-0 (21-17, 21-15) Arai (KGC)/Shimizu (Showa Denko) Hayashitani (Mitsubishi)/Okeda (Cheerful Tottori) 2-0 (21-12, 21-10) Miyajima (JTEKT)/Shigeta (ACT SAIKYO) Nishikawa/Ozaki (NTT-East) 2-1 (21-19, 19-21, 21-12) Takeuchi/Imai (Marusugi) WS: Nidaira Natsuki (Tonami) 2-0 (21-15, 21-8) Takahashi Asuka (Yonex) ... Disastrous result for the sole Team A player. Kawakami Saena (Hokuto Bank) 2-0 (21-14, 21-7) Kayama Miho (BIPROGY) Mizui Hirari (NTT-East) vs. Suizu Manami (ACT SAIKYO) ... ongoing Ohori Aya (Tonami) 2-0 (21-12, 21-16) Gunji Riko (Saishunkan)
Sometimes I feel that Tanaka Yushi may be the best candidate for a slot on the A-Team. Unfortunately, due to his lack of exposure to international competition, his world ranking is far too low to make this realistic. Tanaka beat Naraoka in the final of last year's AJC; and he is looking good at the Ranking Circuit.
During the years of Okuhara and then Yamaguchi become the number 1 in the world ranking list, I don't know what Ohori was doing.
Tanaka has a pretty bad record on the international stage though. He lost early in both of his last two tournaments against unknown Brazilian and Belgian players. This happened after his great runs in the last two AJC too, so I don't even know who we can count on anymore . If he keeps this up, he'll become another Watanabe Koki, i.e. forever stuck in a ranking that can't get him into worthwhile tournaments. I do hope that he can turn things around though. As for Hatano, he was looking good for the last few months, but that loss yesterday to Naraoka is giving me doubts. Naraoka is probably the best option Japan has in the near future. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen. As of now, he's not giving Japan's MS what Kunlavut and Sen are giving Thailand and India. At the very least, I want to see him fight harder on court. Sometimes, watching him play can be so frustrating.
Here are the remaining results of the Ranking Circuit QF WS: Mizui Hirari (NTT-East) 2-1 (10-21, 22-20, 21-16) Suizu Manami (ACT SAIKYO) MS: 1. Naraoka Kodai (IMG) 2-1 (21-13, 21-23, 21-9) Igarashi Yu (BIPROGY) 2. Obayashi Takuma (Tonami) 2-1 (16-21, 21-10, 21-7) Shimono Hashiru (Tonami) ... Has former B Team player, Obayashi, managed to overcome his injury problems? Or has he revived since joining Tonami this spring? ... Given his new-found focus on MD, Shimono may have encountered stamina problems. 3. Omoto Shota (Hitachi Engineering) 2-0 (21-18, 21-11) Koga Minoru (NTT-East) ... A surprisingly easy win for Omoto over a Team B player. 4. Tanaka Yushi (NTT-East) 2-0 (21-15, 21-11) Onodera Yusuke (BIPROGY) WD: 1. Matsumoto/Sone (Hokuto Bank) 2-1 (19-21, 21-8, 21-18) Hirokami/Kato (Saishunkan) 2. Otake/Takahashi (BIPROGY) 2-1 (16-21, 21-17, 23-21) Uesugi (Meiji U.)/Shinoya (NTT-East) 3. Sakuramoto (Yonex)/Suzuki (NTT-East) 2-0 (21-10, 21-12) Ono/Fukumoto (Saishunkan) 4. Miyaura/Hobara (Yonex)2-0 (21-13, 21-18) Shigeta/Suizu Y. (ACT SAIKYO) ... Saishunkan is out of the tournament, both in the WS and WD departments. Possibly a worrying sign. MD: 1. Midorikawa (Waseda U.)/Yamashita (NTT-East) 2-0 ()24-22, 21-19) Fujisawa/Nagabuchi (Tsukuba U.) ... Midorikawa has made two semi-finals! 2. Sonoda/Kaneko (Tonami) 2-0 (21-11, 21-11) Okamura/Onodera (BIPROGY) ... Wow! Sonoda still managing to hit the groove; and this against the top B duo of Okamura/Onodera. 3. Ogata/Shibata (NTT-East) 2-1 (19-21, 21-17, 21-16) Takei/Endo (Meiji U.) 4. Umayahara/Muramoto (JTEKT) 2-0 (23-21, 21-17) Nishida/Mezaki (Tonami)
Disastrous results indeed that Ohori is still the fourth best player. Everybody else seems to be taking turn playing well in one tournament and then tanking the next. There is no clear indicator as to who deserves a spot on Team A. The current batch of high school students are not that promising either. The most promising one, Akechi Hina (hope I got her first name right), won the first round against a more established Hayashi Moto, but gave a w/o in the second round so we don't know how far she could have gone. She was sent to the Asia Team Championship as the third WD, but also played WS3 due to the COVID19 problem within the team. Her results there were just average so I don't think we can expect too much from her.
And here goes the Semi-Final line-up: XD: Midorikawa (Waseda U., Team B)/Saito (ACT SAIKYO, Team B) vs. Yamada (NTT-East, Team B)/Ikeuchi (77 Bank, Team B) Hayashitani (Mitsubishi)/Okeda (Cheerful Tottori) vs. Nishikawa/Ozaki (NTT-East, Team B) Three of the four Team B XD pairs managed to survive it to the semi-final, which probably means that things are in order in this category. Personally, I think that Midorikawa/Saito should be considered for promotion to Team A. WS: Nidaira Natsuki (Tonami, Team B) vs. Kawakami Saena (Hokuto Bank, Team B) Mizui Hirari (NTT-East, Team B) vs. Ohori Aya (Tonami, Team B) Not too much in the way of excitement here. MS: Naraoka Kodai (IMG, Team B) vs. Obayashi Takuma (Tonami) Omoto Shota (Hitachi Engineering) vs. Tanaka Yushi (NTT-East, Team B) Only two national team players survived it to the SF in this category. I wonder what Obayashi can do to counter Naraoka? Neither are particularly aggressive players. WD: Matsumoto/Sone (Hokuto Bank) vs. Otake/Takahashi (BIPROGY) Sakuramoto (Yonex, Team B)/Suzuki (NTT-East, Team B) vs. Miyaura/Hobara (Yonex, Team B) MD: Midorikawa (Waseda U.)/Yamashita (NTT-East) vs. Sonoda/Kaneko (Tonami) Ogata/Shibata (NTT-East) vs. Umayahara/Muramoto (JTEKT) Oh dear, oh dear... not one of the five Team B MDs survived it to the semi-finals! I can't wait to see Midorikawa/Yamashita against Sonoda/Kaneko, though.
