It seems Japan's badminton association has decided to pair women's doubles fan-favorite Yuki Fukushima with the hard-hitting mixed doubles specialist Arisa Higashino. The new women's doubles combination will debut in the Denmark Open 2021, which is scheduled for October 19-24. I, for one, am excited about this pairing. I feel bad for Sayaka Hirota and pray she recovers soon. But Yuki needs a partner and Arisa is a perfect fit, at least on paper. Can't wait for their debut at the Denmark Open.
But does that mean Watanabe won't be paired with any MD player for now? As both partners playing 2 events might put strain on the partnership...
I think it's just a temporary pairing to allow Fukushima to continue playing while Hirota recovers from knee surgery, and Higashino more playing time in tournaments to improve upon her weaknesses (eg. net play, defence and counter attack) for her XD play. Sent from my SM-G988W using Tapatalk
Better in doubles than singles. But I find her one of the weaker (if not the weakest) WD players amongst the JAP team currently. Just mediocre all around, whether attack or defence or counter attack. Fukushima can do better with a better partner. Sent from my SM-G988W using Tapatalk
I feel it will take at least couple of years for her to be at her possible best. By then, age factor would catch up as well. Not looking good, but lets hope for the best.
Erm, I bet to differ. I think Mayu Matsumoto is much more inconsistence than Hirota. Or maybe its just she not having her regular partner. But Mayu is just lifting and lifting and way too many mistakes... Looking forward to Misaki and Yuki in the Uber cup tho... maybe Misaki would help her a lot.
Yeah both Matsomoto and Hirota are up there. It's just that when Matsumoto is on game and consistent her attack and defence can be outstanding. That's why they were able to win the WC twice by beating FukuHiro in the final. Sent from my SM-G988W using Tapatalk
Matsutomo is inconsistent but on her good days she’s quite deadly. She can hit winners from anywhere on court. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have a theory. It’s the coaches fault. Every match she plays against her compatriots where there’s no coaching involved she plays quite creatively with angles, counter attacks and net plays but when she plays against the Chinese or the Koreans she just plays the formulaic WD game. I always feel the pair under-utilises her strengths when they play. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I also think it might be the coach fault. If you watch the match again you can see that both Fukushima and Matsumoto were fixated to target Jia you fan. If she is at the back court, that's where they hit the shuttle to. If she is on the right side of the court or the left side, that's where they would hit the shuttle to. It is like they try to avoid chen jia . They were not freeing up their creativity. In the end it looks like please attack us as much as possible until you strike a winner shot or a lucky shot or we make a mistake ourselves.. It is a painful match to watch. They took the easier path. No need to think, just target jia . Although, Japan has managed to produce many great WD, and it might be because of good coach. But I'm beginning to wonder about the coach. It could also simply be because the women players love badminton and worked hard to improve themselves. Now, it is like their abilities are being held back.
They’ve this incredible discipline and work ethic. But the coaching rarely makes players play to their strengths (especially in WD). They always have this particular way of playing one back court worker, one front court player and you do this, she does that. It’s never unique to a particular pair. Mayu doesn’t fit the box like other players. She has obvious weaknesses in her defence but has a lot of strong points (she can counter attack well, can create great angles and deceptions from back court, decisive at the front court). They need to develop a strategy where her strong points are utilised and her weaknesses in movement and defence are hidden a bit better, but they still insist her in playing the same game as everyone else. The best way to compare her is to Jia yi fan, who’s a bit similar to mayu but the Chinese coaches make Jia play to her strengths in a much better way than the Japanese coaches do for mayu. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I'm wondering in the FukuMatsu pairing, is Matsumoto the primary front court player (since it's the Jpn format)? Well, when switched on, she is as great and dangerous in the front as in the back. So pushing her to the back isn't too good a strategy. I'm kinda confused what kind of player would be compatible with Mayu's play style.
Mayu is a primarily front court player who can land smashes from the back once in a while. But she doesn’t have the stamina or the movement of wakana, Fukushima or takahashi. Even in her regular partnership nagahara stays at the back. But yeah she’s dangerous everywhere and limiting her to one area in the court is not a good strategy. But since that’s how most Japanese players play in that format, she’s stuck to playing that way. But yeah Fukushima is actually better than nagahara for mayu as she’s capable of covering a lot of court and can cover mayu. But still Fukushima likes to play a steady game where as mayu is more aggressive and adventurous. They can’t but mayu/Jia would make an explosive pair. Of the Japanese maybe Arisa could do well. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Too bad we probably won't see that happening ... or erm hrm ... maybe during the next Sudirman or Uber cup... er hrm... someone gets injured or needs a break and we see that happening ...
Yeah they don’t change partners in Japan. They’re stuck with each other. But I sincerely hope nagahara doesn’t become a chan peng soon or gabby adcock with her serves and kill the potential. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk