I am very happy to see Asuka Takahashi have chance to play in this tournament. Her shots are always crisp and executed with good speed. She has power, speed, accuracy, variation and good foot work. Hope Japan Badminton Association will train her well.
Somehow I get the feeling that PJB is going to stick with Hoki/Kobayashi and Koga/Saito. Watanabe Yuta would be more entertaining, though.
Well, you never know. They are both affiliated to Unisys, so they may have had some practice together!
Apparently, Takahashi Sayaka suffered from a herniated disc over the winter. It got to the stage where she couldn’t put any weight on her legs, and recovery proved slow. According to her, she has now at 80-90% of her full strength.
Yeah, PJB hardly experiments with these things (real shame though since Yuta is still technically a top 5 MD player) but I do agree with people clamoring for a Kobayashi/Watanabe tandem at some point, however unlikely. On a different note, I’m extremely excited that Watanabe Koki’s here! That match at the All England earlier this year against Axelsen was amazing and I need to see him in action more.
Yes, I am also very impressed with Watanabe Koki's performance against VA. He has good instincts. I always believe is important to have good active instincts during a match. You can practice hard, train hard do all the moves in a controlled training environment, but once you are on a court, you better make sure your attacking and defending instinct are activated to the highest possible. If you don't make use of them, they become dormant. You miss the chances to go in and try to make a kill. There is a time to dance with opponent and play with your food for a while, there is a time to move in an try to bring down the opponent and not let your opponent get off the hook. That is also why I really enjoyed Okuhara's and Yamaguchi's matches. They are no kittens. They are tigers. Now I am waithing for Momota's attacking and defending instinct to become fully restored and awaken.
@kurako Hoping you could help shed more info on his history, Ding Qiqing Current nationality etc? TQVM
LOL. They experimented and they sure didn't hold back with the MD experiment; for better or worse, we'll see Yuta in action with Koga. I've also wondered why Yuta didn't test his partnership with Kaneko. It would be a very convenient partnership and Kaneko isn't that shabby. It is worth a shot in my opinion.
Hmmm, Nakashima Kei (中島 慶), Japan's WD coach. He came to Japan in 1989, after retiring from active competition and, at the beginning, studied Japanese at Ryukoku University. Thereafter, he served as coach at various (now defunct) corporate teams, including Suntory, Cosmo, and Sanyo. He became a coach of the national junior team in 2000, and in the same year assumed Japanese nationality. (Apparently, retaining his Chinese nationality would have rendered it complex to travel abroad with the team due to different visa procedures.) He has been women's doubles coach since 2002. In one interview he mentioned that he did not really think too much when he chose his new Japanese surname. The 'Naka' of Nakashima retains the character for China (中). He added 'shima' (島), a character meaning 'island', because he thought Japan a beautiful island.
Right now it's pretty much like this: Hoki/Saito - We finished the MD in 19 minutes Koga/Wata - Hold our beers
Momota Hoki/Kobayashi Nishimoto Watanabe/Kaneko Koki Watanabe I guess this is the team that coach Park will choose to facing Malaysia
Happy to have been proven wrong! I don’t get the buzz over Kaneko though. He’s rather old & unspectacular. Hate to be harsh but there’s a reason why he didn’t go far with Inoue and why it’s unlikely he’ll go far with Matsutomo too. That smash is lacking.
Look at the way Nishimoto played. I wonder that WHY WHY and WHY coach Park don't choose Nishimoto when facing with Taiwan and even Malaysia in Sudirman cup
While we're at smashes that are lacking, how did y'all like the Naraoka? Sorry, couldn't help myself.
He looked more positive and aggressive than the rest of the MS combined. But then, that could be a reflection on his opponent.
