Under normal circumstances, yes, this is the case. In XD and MD, China is better than Japan. I will not rule out any possibility of upset. Looking at China vs Japan in Sudirman Cup 2017, there are some surprising turns. Yuta/Arisa won against Zheng/Chen in the opening match, but TakaMatsu ultimately failed to win in the last match and Japan lose in SF as a result. The Sudirman Cup 2019 will be interesting for sure. Anything can happen. Even Korea can win the last SC.
Yes. Even Taiwan can do something, they have Chou/Tai and MD. Winning the cup is so hard, but they can beat any team in a lucky day. And Indonesia, they still have MD, MS, Tunjung and WD (WD is often lose to Japan and China but the point is very close). Finally, Denmark, Viktor + MD + XD can be a very tough obstacle.
Under special circumstances, don't forget China as the host there Spoiler: Launch Ceremony Spoiler: Mascots Spoiler: Logo
The Japanese contingent has got off to a relatively good start at the Thailand Masters (Super 300). Whilst in R1 there were somewhat surprising losses by National B Team players Igarashi Yu and Kaneko/Kubota (and an anticipated loss by XD pair Kubota/Matsuyama) , the remaining players managed to pull through to the second round. This includes two self-financed, non-national team MD pairs from Hitachi Engineering: Takano/Tsukamoto and Matsui/Takeuchi. What could prove more exciting, however, is the lowly Estonian International, which kicks off today. The qualifiers scheduled today will feature young hopes, such as HS pupil Mizui Hirari and 1st-year university student Obayashi Takuma (unfortunately High School XD pair Midorikawa/Saito are left stuck at the top of the reserve list). With any luck, these players may able to join other B-teamers tomorrow, such as Koga Minoru (inter-college MS champion) and Urushizaki Mako (WS), the latter of whom created quite a stir at the All-Japan Championships just last month.
Honestly, I think for two world junior champs to lose 21-11, 21-9 to the 38th ranked pair in the world in the least competitive discipline (Europeans to boot, w/l record of 67/53) is a fairly disappointing result, even though they weren't favourites on paper. There really is no xd hope on the horizon. Just took a look at the Estonian tournament. Unfortunately, if Mizui makes it through qualifying and the first round (seems likely tbh), she'll have to play Urushizaki in the second round. Rather unfortunate draw, imo the worst of the 8 qualifying positions she could have.
Hoki/Nagahara .... provided there is a bit more practice time together. And in the near future, Midorikawa/Saito. At least, that is why they have secured a spot on the national team. It is a shame about Mizui's draw. Urushizaki is looking strong at the moment; she disposed of Kawakami without too much trouble in the S/J League.
In the Estonian International, Urushizaki (WS) was totally overpowered by Batomene. Let's see how Mizui fares against the Frenchwoman later today.
Shimono Hashiru might be the next Momota. I watched him play in Estonian International. He played brilliantly! Hope he has the strong desire to move up just like Momota. Interestingly, Shimono is also a left hander. In fact, many western players have also improved very much. It seems true that more and more, skills , power , footwork , will not be the decider of who lose and who wins. Every serious player can pick up good skills, build up proper muscles, agility ... Finally, it will come down to speed, faster and better decisions when responding to chances to attack, willingness to work hard at defence, stamina managements, mental determination , ability to cope well with frustrations of having to fight for 1 point at a time.... Just like olympic race where winner is decided by who reach the finishing line by just as little as half an inch ahead of opponent, ... winning in badminton (single category) will be decided by who work hard to get 1 point in front of opponent. This is why it is going to be highly frustrating for players. Just need to cope with it. Double is a different thing. There is still a noticeable gap between the winning pair (or pairs) and the others. In order to reach the top, Badminton might become more challenging than in the past. But I have high regards for Kento Momota and would love to see him become the new legend for the new era of badminton. As someone has pointed out ... Momota is a technically gifted player and the good thing is he has proven that he is someone who is willing to put in the hard work needed to meet with today's challenges. That's why I fully agree with Axelson who described Momota as a very rounded player.
It was an all-Japanese WS final at the Estonian International, with 19 year-old Takahashi Asuka overcoming 18 year-old HS pupil Mizui Hirari. As she entered from the qualifying round, and generally had a tougher draw, fatigue may have played a part in Mizui's loss, but there is no denying that Takahashi played a clever, emotionally-controlled, and varied game. She obviously wasn't the HS singles and doubles champion for nothing. Mizui, for her part, will move up from being ranked 404 to roughly 280, or so! This week, whilst all eyes will be on the Malaysia Masters, the same contingent of Japanese players will cross over to Lund for the Swedish Open (International Series).
It is quite a comprehensive delegation!! National Head Coach: Park Joo Bong National Coaches: Nakajima Kei Reony Mainaky Choi Sang Beom Nakanishi Yosuke Jeremy Gan Wye Teck Support Coaches: Komiyama Hajime (Nihon Unisys) Sato Shoji (NTT-East) Ikeda Yuichi (Saishunkan) Suetsuna Satoko (Gifu Tricky Panders)
Wow, there are a lot of coaches accompanying the players. One of the support coaches is from Unisys. In Malaysia Masters, there are 2 all JPN matches. One is KM vs KN. The other is NO vs ST. The national coaches can't possibly accompany these players during their matches. So, it all comes down to support coaches. It is interesting as Shoji Sato is both KM's corporate coach and NO's personal coach. From NO vs ST, I guess the Unisys support coach will accompany ST since NO is no longer part of Unisys team. What if these matches are held at the same time, which player that Shoji Sato will accompany?
@kurako Misaki and Kaneko? Where did that come from? Do they play together for Unisys as MD? Sorry if i'm missing something but I don't recall these two playing together :S
As MD, conceivably, .... as XD, no. There are no competitions involving XD at the corporate team level. Yes, there seems to be quite a lot of experimentation going on at the moment. First, he was with Yonemoto, then Matsumoto, then Matsutomo, then Nakanishi Kie, and now back to Matsutomo. Their record together is fairly dismal (have a look on tournament software), so I wouldn't expect anything. ... I am more interested in seeing how Hoki/Nagahara fare.
I really did write MD *facepalm* ... sorry Matsutomo! This is being done in the hope of Japan getting an opportunity in TO2020 for XD maybe? I'm looking forward to Ayane for some reason. But I haven't seen Gondo play though. Is he as beast as Kenta Kazuno?
Don't worry MD is also Mixed Double... IF Japan corporate team also have competition involving XD (make it different between odd and even year), Japan should easily find strong XD pair like their WD pair.
Well Unisys currently has Higashino/Watanabe duo for mixed doubles. Although they aren't the most consistent, they are improving. But yeah, Japan really needs to work on XD teams. Can't rely only on one pair. Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk
In R1 of the Swedish Open (January 17-20), Koga Minoru managed to defeat the No. 1 seed Kim Bruun! I hope that this form continues. Obayashi and Shimono also marked first-round wins. Postscript: Mizui Hirari just now replicated Koga's feat, and took down Michelle Skodstrup, the No. 1 seed from Denmark.
As, alas, there are no Japanese singles players left in the Malaysia Masters (and this means Momota), my attention has shifted to the Swedish Open. Here, the entire Japanese delegation, which comprises the lower end of National Team B players, has passed through R1 and R2 (also the qualifying rounds in the case of Mizui), with the QF and SF being scheduled today. Livestream for all courts is available on the Badminton Europe YouTube page!
shimono is a very talented player with good speed and power. But he must learn how to keep his frustrations under control. When he failed to take a few smashes and lose points, he over burden himself with frustrations. He seems to forget that the opponent is just as frustrated as he is even if they are not showing it. his opponent also failed to take some of his smashes. When burdened by frustrations, he will just play a reactive game. Just try to get the shuttle back and occasionally respond to chances to attack in a reactive manner instead of attacking with conscious initiatives, ready to follow up until attack is successful or if not successful, fall back and play with patience preparing for next opportunity. If Shimono can handle his frustrations better, he can become a potential future champion. This is my observation.
