I'm not too confident about Nagahara and Hoki selection. But I think they want higashino to rest more plus Watanabe to have maximum focus on MD today. This would mean KamSon playing next round. And would mean Watanabe and Higashino against in-form Puavaranukroh and Taerattanachai. Because frankly, Hoki and Nagahara would straight up lose to the top thai pair. Only Higashino and Watanabe have beaten them consistently.
Ivanov/Sozonov lead the H2H against Endo/Watanabe by 1-0, ... but given Endo/Watanabe's current form, I would be surprised if Russia were to win the MD today. The line-up looks safe enough.
I can't really envisage Park Joo Bong staying on as Japan's head coach after the Tokyo Olympics. I believe that his contract is due to expire at the end of FY 2020, and unless he remains until the 2022 World Championships (Tokyo), which I doubt, that will be it. If this assumption is correct, then the 2019 Sudirman Cup will be the last opportunity for Bird Japan to dedicate a win to PJB. The team is going to want to take the cup!!
I mean clearly Watanabe/Endo were underestimating Russia today! Their body movements etc .. We've seen a better Endo. But Nishimoto ... come on! @terrynguyen121988 I mean you gotta talk to your player!! Unless Japan is purposely making the tie tighter?? Maybe they don't wanna face China early? Idk! What are the possible encouters post group stage?
You mean better Endo like when he lost to the exactly same pair in AE 2016 Final with another partner?
Kanta Tsuneyama is a better player for Team Tournament but they still brought Kenta Nishimoto instead. Look at this... I bet this day is his last day playing at Sudirman Cup ever.
The match today is terrible, Nishimoto always has problem with "tall player" and smashing consecutively. The defence, Nishimoto's strength, was pale day after day. He (Kenta) just smashed to left or right but within opponent's reach. Kenta should aim to the line, like Shi Yuqi did. Nishimoto played like Momota's tactic but he cannot play net shot well like Momota. Moving faster than Momota to jump smash consecutively make him tired and take deep breathe. This made him make mistake easily. I think Nishimoto need to improve his muscles, weak muscles make him tired when playing rallies. Anyway, I know what I write here will not come to Nishimoto, I hope the coaches can help him. If anyone can message to Nishimoto, tell him: "take a slight "breath in" before hit the shuttlecock and take a slight "breathe out" after hit the shuttlecock". THIS CAN HELP HIM NOT TO TAKE DEEP BREATH AFTER RALLIES. (this is the key factor that Nishimoto need to improve, to me). I think Nishimoto doesn't know how to "regulate breathing" when playing rallies and this make him tired fastly. P/S: sometimes I see him playing net shot with a feint like Ginting, that is "deadly skill" but I don't know why Nishimoto didn't use it more. (didn't keep it on)
If Thailand win 3-2 to Russia, I think Nishimoto still have a chance to play in the next two days, but it can be a risk for the whole team. The situation today clearly cause PJB hesitate to choose Nishimoto again.
Sorry to see nishimoto in such a state, @terrynguyen121988 . But in all honesty, he has many areas to work on before becoming the reliable No 2 of JPN. It's just hard to look at a fixture and go, "Nishimoto can surely win this". I never feel safe watching him play.
I think it is just a mental thing. His muscles should be fine. Anyway ... anybody knows if we gonna see the Momota in action tomorrow? @yuquall but now he has wonderkid -___-
I don't know whether it's a mental thing, he won many players in top 10. I mean, if you can beat many top 10 players, what can make you scare ? It's not the final match, it's just a 33 years old man and his rank is over 50. What can make you scare ? his muscle would be not fine until he can smash like Ginting/Christie or Shi Yuqi. Unless his smash can make opponents scare. If not, he has to improve it. You know what, everytime I see Ginting jump-smashing, it make me scare. ^-^
Nishimoto's post-match interview, as written up by Badminton Spirit (https://www.badspi.jp/201905201900/ <Japanese>) On the whole, my opponent took the lead; I felt that he took the initiative, and that I was playing passively a lot. Hairpins were played without getting behind the net, and it got to the stage of me hitting lob after lob, thereby often giving winning shots to my opponent. My inability to adjust my game during the match didn't help. In future, remaining composed, both mentally and game-wise, is going to prove crucial when facing the pressure of a team event. --------
@terrynguyen121988 ... Mental ... Guess your Kenta needs more time to become like our Kento I'm just pulling your leg
V. Malkov might not be in the top 50 but he is no pushover. He won his two matches during this tournament so far. It’s never easy to play an underdog yet KN should have win that match but I wonder... did he underestimate his opponent and approached this match with too much confidence? I certainly hope not.
actually, Nishimoto cannot play Momota's game smoothly. Momota's move is a bit slowly than Nishimoto and Momota didn't always move consecutively when the rallies on. Cannot play net shots like Momota, cannot play Momota's game. I specially didn't satisfy with Nishimoto net lift shots, it's "too neutral" to me, and I rarely see Nishimoto using cross-court lift shots. The cross-court lift shots are the spine of Momota's game. Always the red one but not the yellow one. Always the red one but not cross-court lift shots. The straight lift shots was too neutral, not far enough to drop at the back line, and not high enough to fly out of the reach of the tall players. The tall players like Shi Yuqi, Lee Jii Zia just take one step back or just jump back to hit the shuttlecock to the line court with slight smash by using wrist.
Cross-court net shot and see what happened The Russian man was ready to strike back with a smash, he almost stood at half right of the far corner and wait for the shuttle. After that, the Russian man stood on court, looked at Nishimoto with surprising eyes as if Nishimoto's just made a "Lin Dan trick shot" ^-^ Actually, it's a normal shot, very very normal, but take the point easily.
When a picture speaks a thousand words..... (Sudirman Cup practice session in Nanning) Source: Nippon Badminton Association website; photographer: T. Kitagawa. For more photographs, see the NBA album of the event at https://www.badminton.or.jp/games/2019/stman_photo/16.html.