Not only do they prefer the underdog, people (including myself) find that the Japanese pair has more appeal (feel free to disagree) even though they are undoubtedly weaker than the Chinese pair(s). Watanabe has a weak smash but what he lacks in smash, he more than makes up for in other departments - especially with his flashy plays (sometimes); this alone makes his matches so much more watchable, exciting and entertaining. Also, Higashino's defence and soft touch is weak but what she lacks in those, she more than makes up for in athlecticism and speed, which most women XD players don't possess; not to mention her jump smash (the form and technique) that brought her fame in the earlier years. Zheng and Huang play textbook XD and they just do it clinically with consistency and hence they are way above everyone's league. Zheng smashing like a machine vs the skilful and artistic movement of Watanabe? The choice is clear for me.
Arisa even didn't control her clear shot, when she lift to the shuttle to the back line, most of it can be out.
Bonus for ChiaSoh is 220,000 RM (75000 sgd ) each. Not much honestly, they deserve more. To be first Malaysian to do it , even if its Doubles category. BAM still in talk with NSC for more
I know that there is a videosharing thread , but maybe it's better in this thread. Does anybody know where to get this game COMPLETE: BWF World Championships 2022 | Chou Tien Chen (TPE) [4] vs. Jonatan Christie (INA) [7] | QF At bwf yt-channel it starts at 13-10 in the first game. Thank in advance!
Complete opposite of my picture of them. Often it's Watanabe using his incredible mobility around the court and creative shots to bail them out of a nasty situation her mediocre front court play got them into. She's also quite the one-trick pony around the back imop. The front court player playing badly dooms almost all doubles pairs, this is not exclusive to this combination. The major problem as far as I see it is that Higashino's floor is much lower than most elite XD players', so it's much more noticeable. If you think female players don't do much in XD, you should play and watch it some more! The battle for the net is often decisive for the overall outcome of the match...even more of a reason why Watanabe often starts the match with a handicap, since Higashino needs to have a really good day to have the upper hand against Taerattanachai, Huang YQ or Huang DP.
it is quite the opposite to common believe that in XD man is the most important, but just take a look how Zheng Shi Wei did play in tournaments with some weak woman and Huang YQ with that tall chap without any coordination (Ou?), Huang YQ did much better and was still going through to semifinals and finals, but Zheng Shi Wei was loosing very quickly in the first rounds, without front/middle domination of woman you will not be wining often/big titles...
Take Zhang Nan/Zhao Junlei as example. Without Zhao Junlei, Zhang Nan is nothing in spite of how good he was.
Not sure if you're responding to me, but just in case - I never meant to imply one is more important than the other. However, the vast majority seems to agree with my opinion that Watanabe is much more talented and the 'special' player in that pairing - if you want some confirmation on that, just look at their respective achievements outside of this one particular combination. From the data we have now, we can only conclude that Watanabe is the better player. Zhao Yunlei had no real success in XD without him either. Seemed to be a special pair - neither with great XD success in other combinations, but both of them greatly successful in even doubles, ZJL more - although ZN had weaker partners for a long while and only got to pair up with Fu when he was already somewhat declining.
