Omoto Shota (Hitachi Engineering) appears to be in very good form in this tournament. Yes. Playing well in one tournament and tanking in another tournament is a good description of what seems to be happening. It's puzzlingly. Might have to do with their willingness to continuously train hard or just taking it easy. Or it might be because they don't have good sparring partners to train with in between tournaments. In sports the winners are always working hard to improve on their weaknesses and adding new skills as much as they can. Coaches also play an important part to make sure this is happening. Player's own motivation is also a big question. I'm excited to see how the MS will turn out in this tournament. For WS, yes I still remember Mizui Hirari's meltdown in last year's semi final. Aya Ohori, like Nishimoto is frustrating. Most of their tournament felt like as if it could go either way. Yet, as in the English expression, they are always "the first to blink." They certainly don't look weak in terms of skills, talents and physical. Yet, they lack in something internally. Question is is it so hard for them to watch a replay of their own matches many times and figure out what went well and what didn't went well? Anyway, good luck to Mizui Hirari and Aya Ohori. Maybe improvements are on the way. Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk
An upset in the MS Department at the Ranking Circuit Semi-Finals, as unseeded Omoto Shota (Hitachi Engineering) takes down seed no. 2, Tanaka Yushi. It was close at the end of game 2, and had it come down to the wire, Tanaka may well have won on stamina, ... but a great win for former B Teamer, Omoto. On the adjacent court, Obayashi may encounter more problems in trying to accomplish the same feat against seed no. 1, Naraoka. As he is not an attacking player, Obayashi, does not have the tools to unnerve Naraoka, or puncture his rhythm. Nevertheless, he did manage to defeat Watanabe Koki earlier in the tournament; it has been a good run for him. ... And the match isn't over yet. One thing is certain: Any match involving Naraoka is a long, drawn-out affair, ...requiring much in the way of patience from the viewer.
So sorry for Tanaka Yushi this time. But I did notice that Omoto Shota is in very good form. Tanaka Yushi played well and should continue to train hard. Omoto Shota was in "Yamaguchi" mode, fast, accurate decisive, and putting power into shuttle at every opportunity. Omoto Shota's stamina level is still to be tested. I think he won most of his matches in 2 sets if I'm not wrong. Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk
And Naraoka only took one hour and twenty minutes to win in straight games... Is this a record? An incredibly draining match, for player and viewer alike.
Omoto's R2 match against Sakai Kazumasa went to the rubber, ... but there again, Sakai is in a class of his own. I really admire him for continuing to push himself.
Maybe it is part of the strategy. Today was a real war of attrition, though. Omoto is slightly faster-paced than Obayashi, so, thankfully, we may well be spared the same 'entertainment' tomorrow.
Ha ha! Anyway, good to see that both Tanaka Yushi and Obayashi put up a good fight. I'm both cases, close match. But it's true Omoto is playing at a faster pace. Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk
Hope this partnership can be considered for international tournaments. Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk
Midorikawa is good but I don't know how he is going to play XD right after MD. Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk
And tomorrow's Finals have been determined as..... XD: Midorikawa/Saito (Waseda U./ACT SAIKYO, Team B, Seed No. 1) vs. Nishikawa/Ozaki (NTT-East, Team B, Seed No. 2) WS: Kawakami Saena (Hokuto Bank, Team B, Seed No. 4) vs. Ohori Aya (Tonami, Team B, Seed No. 2) MS: Naraoka Kodai (IMG, Team B, Seed No. 1) vs. Omoto Shota (Hitachi Engineering, unseeded) WD: Otake/Takahashi (BIPROGY, Seed No. 5) vs. Sakuramoto/Suzuki (Yonex/NTT-East, Team B, Seed No. 3) MD: Sonoda/Kaneko (Tonami, Seed No. 5) vs. Ogata/Shibata (NTT-East, Seed No. 6) I really want to see Sonoda/Kaneko win!! ----- Following the finals, there will be a discussion as to national team membership. Can we dare to hope for any changes?
So excited to see Sonoda play!! Still sad that I'll no longer be seeing Kamura play with him though Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
I miss the Kamura/Sonoda and Watanabe/Endo pairings already. The current batch just lacks something to make themselves exciting to the viewers. Even Hoki/Kobayashi are either a hit or miss.
I found myself praying for Naraoka to win the second game already. WD was looking to be a lot more exciting than a third game between those two, and in fact, it was.
I'm not familiar with WSX's style so I can't agree or disagree, but is this supposed to be a compliment to Naraoka or a jab at WSX?
She's a type of rallying player with no killer smash, lob, drop, x-net shot, defense to tire out the opponent, adding a mosquito smash as a cherry on top. I feel Naraoka is almost playing the same style as her. Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam may have the same style, but he's old. I just think he should add some attacking shots to his game. L.Sen, K.Vitidsarn, LohKY, WengHY, etc both have decent smashes to kill a shuttle.
Also sounds like you're describing Okuhara . LKY and WHY both have more than decent smashes. I would be happy enough if Naraoka can kill the shuttle as well as Sen or Vitidsarn. Aiming for the lines more can also help. Naraoka's smashes not only don't have much bites, they're also not making the opponent move too much to return.
