You are right, it's hard to tell where they are with the absence of juniors from traditionally strong countries, and we probably won't get to know until junior tournaments get back to normal. Countries have not been sending their juniors to tournaments, Japan included, hence the lack of rankings. Just basing it off the high school tournaments and the Ranking Circuit, I think we have a decently good batch of juniors for MS. Saito had a really good lead against Igarashi Yu in the first round of the RC before everything slipped away after the interval. It might have been the knee giving him problems since he gave a w/o in the consolation match the next day. Just based on the part that he did play well, he was giving Igarashi quite a hard time. Personally, I find Tanioka's play style more exciting, a bit reckless, kind of like how I would imagine Watanabe Yuta to play MS. I think the SF match against Iwano in Bulgaria is a good example of what I meant by reckless. By the way, while Saito was busy winning the two junior tournaments, the current junior number one won the Croatia IS a week later. So expectations are there, but I'm definitely keeping them grounded .
I think Saito is quite good,it's not easy to win two tournaments in a row. I followed some of the other junior players taking part in the same tournament,they're quite strong as well,I think some of them also won a tournament in Europe a few months ago,so its quite a good achievement that Saito managed to beat them. Most of them also are low ranking though but I think its also because of lack of tournament participation. I did read about the current world junior no 1,he also won 2 tournaments in a week. But tbh,these rankings aren't that dependable in pandemic times as you mentioned. In any case,I expect that there will be good competition in the future among these players,assuming no injuries, they're all around the same age and it will be exciting to see them come up. But they will also have to contend with Lakshya and Kunlavut who are just a little bit older but vastly more experienced. Let's hope they are up to the challenge. Sent from my SM-A307GN using Tapatalk
Hobara Sayaka is playing WD with Suzuki Hinata at the Singapore Open. I also remember that Sakuramoto was registered with Miyaura Rena before they were withdrawn. Hobara was still playing with Miyaura and Sakuramoto with Suzuki at the Ranking Circuit, so I wonder what's the plan for these four. This kind of partnership shuffling is unheard of at the national team level.
I'm beginning to like Naraoka's coach after seeing how Naraoka has improved. Slowly getting doubts of Momota's, Tsuneysma's, Nishimoto's coach. Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk
Has Naraoka's defense gotten better? He was getting a lot back against WHY and is no longer left stranded against Christie today. I admit that I fully expected him to lose both matches because he hasn't done well against players with good smashes, but this is a good surprise. He's also going more for the lines and switching the smash angles up a lot better and it's doing wonders to his attacking game. This Naraoka seems like a completely different player compared to the Naraoka at the tournaments in Korea and the Ranking Circuit.
Naraoka had trained up his own smash. He is able to score points or else put great pressure on opponents through his own smash. Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk
National Team A members are coached by Nakanishi, and this includes Naraoka. As primarily B+ team members have been sent to the Singapore Open, Imabeppu Kaori, a B Team coach, is accompanying and coaching the singles players. Karel Mainaky is there for the doubles players. But you are absolutely right about Naraoka. He is not afraid of the net, and his smashes have improved. With more exposure in high level international tournaments, he has started to play more confidently, ... and this without Paparaoka. All he needs to do now is cut down on time-wasting.
Congratulation K Naraoka for getting into the finals! The coach may not be his main coach but I think she might be doing a good job passing on good feedbacks to Naraoka during intervals and in between games. Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk
Yeah. He kept nodding his head during the intervals and her gameplan really worked against every opponent. He executes it very well. Even though he is not that much technical, but he works really hard on court.
He is turning back toward the coach too much. This is a habit that carries over from being coached and followed everywhere by his father. I can't think of any other player that has this much communication with the coach while on court. I would like to see him weaned off this dependency and think for himself more.
There's only so much a coach can tell you to do compared to what you do end up doing on court. And still, it's better than say, having Nakanishi do what he does with Momota. There's still a difference between following coaching from his father than the B team coach. Regardless, there were still rallies where he likely showed his own thinking. There would be no point in having a coach sit there if they aren't going to offer advice. Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
Momota should try the Naraoka trick; having an attractive female coach makes you play better because you want to impress on her
Usually, japanese people look young even when they are old. She might be his mother's age. I dont know about this impressing thing but momota may try if this female coach coaches him.
Not sure about that... but that's an opportunity to raise the question of why do we see so few women coaching MS players?
I find it too simplistic to attribute KN's improvements to his coach(es) and blame others' results on their respective coaches. Especially Nishimoto... KM is a whole other issue imo. KN clearly progressed lately due to the increase opportunities he has had to play more international tournaments since April and after 2 seasons with almost no international tournaments to his belt. Not saying his coach(es) did not help him progress but I think he essentially became more consistent in all the aspects of his game because of his dedication and his increased experience. He showed some impatience and frustration during the final but, at 21 years of age, that's part of his learning curve. Let's now see if he can reiterate his performance at the Singapore Open. His margin of progression is high given his young age.
The problem is not just about coach's ability. Sometimes football club changes their coach when they lost again and again. When the club has a new coach, that can be a renew and they suddenly play well although the new coach just come (haven't coach much to them) and the "old" coach come to another club too, and still be successful later. SOMETIMES, RENEW/RESTART OUR COMPUTER TO LET IT FUNCTION BETTER.
A family commitment is preventing me from watching the World Championships live, but I have managed to purchase tickets for the finals of the Daihatsu Yonex Japan Open. As the Japan Open was cancelled in 2020 and 2021, this is actually the third consecutive time, after 2018 and 2019, and I will be sitting in the arena. It is becoming a bit of a tradition. On the last two occasions I attended, Momota prevailed. This time around, I am bracing myself for a totally different landscape, but I intend to enjoy the tournament whatever happens. I am hoping, for the local fans' sake, that Japan will be represented by at least one category on the day.
