NBA has published its latest official list of participants in the BWF World Championships (https://www.badminton.or.jp/news/2018/20180730_world.pdf). As @Master mentioned, Ohori Aya has been added. Also of note are the select group of "support coaches", who are slated to join the National A coaches at the tournament. We have Sato Shoji (NTT-East), Sasaki Sho (Hokuto Bank), and Ohori Hitoshi (Tonami). List of Players: MS: Nishimoto Kenta (Tonami) Sakai Kazumasa (Nihon Unisys) Momota Kento (NTT-East) WS: Yamaguchi Akane (Saishunkan) Okuhara Nozomi (Nihon Unisys) Sato Sayaka (Yonex) Ohori Aya (Tonami) MD: Sonoda/Kamura (Tonami) Inoue/Kaneko (Nihon Unisys) Hoki/Kobayashi (Tonami) Endo/Watanabe (Nihon Unisys) WD: Takahashi/Matsutomo (Nihon Unisys) Fukushima/Hirota (Gifu Tricky Panders) Yonemoto/Tanaka (Hokuto Bank) Nagahara/Matsumoto (Hokuto Bank) XD: Watanabe/Higashino (Nihon Unisys) Kobayashi/Matsutomo (Tonami/Nihon Unisys)
Japan's revamped S/J League has started to take form. Badminton Spirit has published an article outlining the new format and match schedule for the 2018~2019 season. (http://www.badspi.jp/201806082000/) As already explained somewhere in this thread, both for the men's and women's league, what was formerly one group of eight teams will now been divided into two blocks of five teams each. The five teams battle it out with each other for the top two places, and yes, the top two teams in each block finally get to meet for a climactic "Top Four Tournament". Of course the idea is to inject some excitement and dynamism (this should be understood to mean a wider audience and subsequent interest from sponsors) into the sport, but to be honest, it hardly takes a genius to make any predictions about what teams will constitute the "top four", ...year after year after year. Leaving that aside, the groups for 2018~2019 have been announced as follows: A. Men's League Block S Tonami Transportation (2017~18 Champion) Hitachi Engineering (4th) Tricky Panders (5th) JR Hokkaido (8th) JTEKT (promoted from Nippon League) Block J Nihon Unisys (2017~18 Runner-up) NTT-East (3rd) Kanazawa Gakuin Club (6th) Mitsubishi Motors (7th) Tohoku Marks (promoted from Nippon League) B. Women's League Block S Nihon Unisys (2017~18 Champion) Yonex (4th) NTT-East (5th) ACT SAIKYO (8th) Gifu Tricky Panders (promoted from Nippon League) Block J Hokuto Bank (2017~18 Runner-up) Saishunkan Pharmaceuticals (3rd) San-in Godo Bank (6th) 77 Bank (7th) Hitachi Chemical (promoted from Nippon League) Action will commence on December 8 (incidentally, the All Japan Championship is scheduled for November 26~December 2), and end with the Top Four Tournament final on February 17, 2019. As a post-script, let me add that the second tier Nippon League will be re-named "S/J League II".
Tickets for the Japan Open (September 11~16) are on sale from today: http://dyjapanbadminton.com/2018/en/ If anyone is planning to be in Japan, and interested in purchasing a ticket online, please check https://l-tike.com/st1/dyj2018/sitetop ASAP. Tickets for one of the seating categories are already sold out.
Kanta Tsuneyama to join 2018 World Championships as JPN 4th MS. >>> Qualifiers List Phase 2 version 6 - MS That invitation still needs confirmation from NBA.
The NBA has confirmed Tsuneyama's participation in the World Championships. The updated list is available at https://www.badminton.or.jp/news/2018/20180_world_player.pdf <Japanese>. The seeding report of the WC has also been published at https://bwfextranet.com/docs/events/3213/docs/World Championships 2018 _ Seeding List.pdf. There are sixteen seeded entries for each category.
Wow, Nishimoto must be experiencing symptoms of shock at the moment. Unless I am mistaken, he has been beaten to the top of the podium of a major tournament by his Tonami junior (kohai), Tsuneyama Kanta. Great performance at the Thailand Open by Tsuneyama! He will never be able to play badminton as stylishly as Momota, but he may, in the future, oust Nishimoto for the No. 2 spot.
I think Tsuneyama is showing a different way of playstyle than the usual retrieving and fast pace running game. I guess that is what I like about Japanese players. They have their own styles and own ways to win. While it is good to be carbon copy of another world top player, but it lacks character.
I watched him play on Saturday. Many of Thai fans love his smile and energetic personality on the court. So glad he doesn't let me down to grab his first WT500 in my country. (Cause I shout "ippon ippon" for cheer him up until hoarseness. )
Am I reading this right? There's a badminton anime to which Saishunkan are somehow sponsors/consultants and the players have actually signed this ridiculous poster?
****, I want one! I have following that series “Hanebado” as well. There was an interview that the director and some of the production members are proper badminton fans. They have research on the sport. It’s already on the third episode. But no tournaments arc yet, I guess now it’s still in character introductory phase. Definitely recommended !
The Akita Masters (Japan) and Russian Open will commence tomorrow, simultaneously. It is interesting to see that a not insignificant number of Japanese players will actually be flying to Russia, rather than trying out their luck on home turf. As none of these players are financially-supported by the NBA, I presume that they simply have higher expectations of their chances in Russia. However, looking at the rankings of the top seeds in both tournaments (at least in the MS category), there does not seem to be much of a difference. Tsuneyama Kanta, incidentally, has withdrawn from the Akita Masters. With the World Championships looming, he obviously did not want to give the torturous training camp a miss.
The revised BWF rankings have been published and National B team member, Takahashi Sayaka, has jumped up six places to No. 12, well ahead of Ohori (No. 16) and Sato (No. 17). And that's to say nothing of the other National A team member Kawakami Saena (No. 45), whose prospects look increasingly dim. Takahashi is currently playing in the Akita Masters, and is on course to advance even further in the ranks. Her next tournament will be the Vietnam Open.
She is registered for Spain, which is the next 300. Vietnam and Akita aren't. By the way, @kurako ...could you find the full list of Spain participants? There seems to be a preparatory B team training camp from the 18th to 24th of August, but the participants list for the Spain Masters does omit a lot of the training camp participants, most notably two young doubles players that should really be there.
Two lists have been made available so far, NBA-sponsored players (https://www.badminton.or.jp/news/2018/20180828_esp.pdf), and those supported by the JSC (https://www.badminton.or.jp/news/2018/20180828_esp_jsc.pdf). I don't think you are going to find what you are looking for. Having said that, the list of self-financed players has not been published yet, ... so you never know.
