B Team MS: Obayashi Takuma Tanaka Yushi Watanabe Koki Takahashi Koo Hatano Riku Ogawa Shogo (New) Out: Muramoto Ryoma WS: Takahashi Asuka Nidaira Natsuki Kurihara Akari Suizu Manami Sugiyama Kaoru (New) Masuki Sakura (New) Out: Kawakami Saena Promoted to A Team: Miyazaki Tomoka MD: Shibata/Yamada (New) Kaneko/Ota (New) Shimogami/Nomura (New) Out: Nishida/Mezaki, Ogawa/Kumatani, Okimoto/Tanioka Promoted to A Team: Okumura/Mitsuhashi WD: Nakanishi/Iwanaga Hirokami/Kato Ishikawa/Konegawa (New) Out: Sudo/Yamakita, Hobara/Suizu XD: Nishi/Sato Shimogami/Hobara (New) Out: Kudo/Kamiyama, Kumatani/Sato
I would hope so. ... Having said that, I thought the same after the Tokyo Olympics, too, but nothing much happened. I suppose we need to wait for a change in the coaching staff.
Five gold? So they are targeting all categories? Naraoka better figure out how to not tire out after his insane rallies then, yuta/arissa better figure out how to defend against zsw/hyq, akane better recover her form soon, as for hoki/kobayashi and matsuyama/shida, idk what they can do..
The Team A selection might seem uninspired to us foreign fans, but the Momota decision is creating a great divide on the Japanese online comments. A lot of voices are complaining about the decision to keep Momota instead of promoting Watanabe Koki. The B Team saw a lot of changes. I had expected that Endo/Takei and Gunji would stay on as B members but we got Nomura/Shimogami and Masuki Sakura instead. Nomura/Shimogami and, definitely, Masuki Sakura were not on my radar. Instead of Masuki, Akechi Hina was the more obvious choice, imo. And then there's the keeping of Hatano Riku...Miyashita Rei or Takei Riki would have been a better choice. As for the 5 medals...one for each discipline? Or perhaps 2 for WD to make up for, probably, MD? Either way, a miracle is going to be needed.
According to the NBA, one for each discipline. I have seen criticism of Nomura/Shimogami. Age-wise, it is difficult to envisage this pair taking that giant leap to the Los Angeles Olympics. According to the comments, it is all about making sure that each corporate team has its share of representatives. With Matsui/Takeuchi out of Team A, and probably on the verge of retirement, Hitachi would have been bereft of team members, which is not conducive to a good NBA/corporate relationship. I believe the power balance between the NBA and corporate teams to be an important factor here. With regard to Momota: As he won the AJC, the NBA, according to team member selection criteria, were compelled to leave him on the national team. Of course, this could have been on Team B, but given the workings of Japanese society, that is just inconceivable. As far as I am concerned, there should have an expansion of the MS quota (although this again would bend the selection criteria), with Watanabe Koki and Obayashi Takuma being invited to Team A.
No. The NBA didn't send any player to this tournament. All Japanese players appearing at the Indonesia Masters were sent by their companies, or, in the case of Okuhara, paid out of her own pocket. This is also the case for the tournament in Thailand next week.
It is difficult to even imagine Nomura/Shimogami taking the leap from B to A. Shimogami has had some success with XD at the national level so he should focus his energy there instead now that he has found a proper partner in Hobara. Hobara's career in WD is probably over so she can focus on XD. Of course, I would be happy to be proven wrong. I guess this would also be the reasoning behind the inclusion of Masuki, i.e., replacing Kawakami with her Hokuto Bank junior.
Looking ahead to the Thailand Masters, it appears that Fukushima Yuki will be doubling up with Kiyose Riko, who I believe is still a high school student at Aomori Yamada HS. Kiyose will be entering Marusugi upon graduation this year. If anyone is interested in information on which corporate teams up-and-coming players are expected to enter from April 2024, please refer to https://www.sj-league.jp/assets/pdf/2023/SJ_naitei_foreign_20231116.pdf (Japanese). BIPROGY appear to be beefing-up their MDs.
There are quite a lot of players from other countries who are still active as well. Covid has reduced the numbers of potential young talent that might have challenged the older players.
He withdrew from Thailand masters too, is he injured? He should be playing the 300 levels so he can qualify for the 750 and 1000s again
I don't want to say "I told you so", but seeing as Shida/Matsuyama first lost Japan the Asian Team Championship and tonight cost Saishunkan the Top4 title because a scratch pair of Nakanishi/Higashino is apperantly too much to deal with for the #6 pair in the world, I'm going to do it anyway.
You could be like me and readjust your expectation . Consistency is not a word in their vocabulary. That was their second defeat to the same pair, if I'm not mistaken. Thanks to them, Yamaguchi didn't even get to play in the corporate team championship final last year. You can only be thankful that they didn't cost Saishunkan a spot in the Top 4 just a few weeks earlier . And #6 as the highest ranked Japanese pair is quite a disappointment don't you think so? Takahashi Ayaka must be regretting her decision to retire right now .
I felt Hina Akechi and Tanaka Yushi performed very well in Olean Master, France. Finals : WS : T Miyazaki vs H Akechi MS : Tanaka Y vs Takahashi K Although I know Miyazaki is the favorite because she is agile and consistent, I feel Hina Akechi might be able to take the win. For MS, I think Tanaka Yushi can win. I can still remember the fierce match between Naraoka and Tanaka Yushi. Naraoka is a fast and creative player but sometimes over think. Tanaka Yushi is also fast but has very good power. This is also what Anthony Ginting has. WD : Japan (R Hirokami - Y Kato) vs Indonesia
