We have spent some time here discussing the potential of National Team B and, judging from Team Japan's performance at the Taipei Open (out of eleven players/pairs, only Watanabe Koki managed to advance to the SF), one may be excused for feeling a little anxious. Particularly as far as singles are concerned, trying to envisage a post-Momota, Yamaguchi, or Okuhara scene is a fairly depressing exercise. Here, in an attempt to put things into perspective, I devised a simple graph that shows the trends in the world ranking of both Team A and Team B singles players in 2019, thereby hoping to dispel some of the gloom. Both Team A and Team B players feature on the same graph, being distinguished by various hues of blue and brown respectively. I have included the players’ ages in brackets. As far as the MS category is concerned, in the space of eight months National Team B players have generally been upwardly mobile (Igarashi Yu and Koga Minoru are the exceptions), with 20-year-old Watanabe Koki expected to surpass the lowest-ranked Team A player, Sakai Kazumasa, after the Taipei Open. Naraoka Kodai, despite having lost his place on the national team this year, also continues to perform well. It is worth bearing in mind, however, that these players do not have equal access to international tournaments, which naturally influences their ranking; indeed, Shimono, Obayashi, and Omoto have played in fewer than ten. With regard to WS, rather than a gap between Team A and B players, it is the chasm between the top and the bottom halves of Team B that is most conspicuous. Again, the lack of ‘equal opportunity’ seems to speak volumes (none of the lower-end Team B players have participated in ten tournaments over the last year), … but, whatever the background, the overall downward trend in this category is undeniable. Only NTT-East, with Mizui and Oie, appears to offer hope, but as is the case with Naraoka, Oie is not on the national team. Feel free to draw your own conclusions, … but by way of comparison, let me just add that Momota, Okuhara, and Yamaguchi have been on the national team since their mid-teens. Moreover, all three were offered places on National Team A when they were still only high school pupils. With Tokyo 2020 looming, it is great to see these Team A players peaking at roughly the right time, but the post-Olympic landscape doesn't look quite as rosy. I have no basis at all when I say this, but I strongly suspect that Park Joo Bong will step down as national head coach following Tokyo 2020; moreover, he has probably known this since 2017, when his contract was renewed. Considering that the Tokyo Olympics will be the culmination of his career in Japan, the achievements of Team A at the event are naturally paramount. ... Basically, what I am saying here is that the reinforcement of Team B has, for the last two to three years, been an afterthought, ... and that this may well come to haunt Japan in a couple of years when some of the top players start retiring. Unfortunately, PJB will no longer be around to pick up the pieces.
pjb addressed that issue in this interview (2018): https://www.thestar.com.my/sport/ba...ng-of-south-korea-is-one-of-badmintons-specia i saved this link from 2018 as a reminder of what it takes for a country/team to succeed at the highest level: all stakeholders must be on the same page and trust each other. nba (nippon badm assn), ocj (olympic cmtee of japan), corporate clubs... they all get it, they all see the mutual benefits, pride and glory. i hope they forever avoid the greedy-power-hungry-person-stakeholder virus that seems to infect other nat'l teams. "Sekene, JBA and OCJ are supportive when I’ve problems too – they don’t turn around and point the finger at me for decisions I made. I remember telling him (Sekene) the possibility of hiring Jeremy Gan as a mixed doubles coach. He noted it and a day later, all arrangements were made to hire Jeremy. Budget, sponsors, approvals – all were sorted." a day later. A DAY LATER! kinda makes me wanna work for these people...doing anything.
I think that, at least initially, PJB experienced quite a few conflicts of interest with the corporate teams, who happen to employ the players. Luckily for Team Japan, the NBA and OCJ were there to back him up, ... and no doubt pulled a few strings behind the scenes.
Here's the list of Japanese singles players participating in international tournaments scheduled between September 10 (Vietnam Open) and October 20 (Denmark Open). With the exception of the Denmark Open, I have confirmed this information with NBA website, but the list is tentative and subject to change. As far as MS is concerned, it appears that Shimono has withdrawn from the Vietnam Open, and is not featuring in any of the other tournaments listed. (This is possibly due to an injury incurred in the All Japan Members Championships). Naraoka Kodai, too, although expected to feature in Vietnam, is not participating anywhere else.
Japan focused on 2020 so much they obviously had to let go on some other objectives. They're going all in for the next Olympics and clearly it's the next generation that will take a hit. I doubt some of those B players or other youngsters in Japan lack talents but surely the Japanese badminton federation can't focus on all athletes and work as hard with them as they work with the current A team. I agree with you regarding PJB, he will most likely step down after Tokyo, especially if there are a few gold medals around some necks. Let's wait and see what happens next but like most sports once a cycle of successful players is gone, it's never easy for the next generation...
Vietname Open WS Oie, Mizui & Takahashi qualify for round 2 (qualification) Only Saito lost in round 1. round 2 : Mizui vs Takahashi, maybe this time Mizui will win? hope to see some change of her game
Asuka Takahashi is a good player but if she doesn't win in 2 games then she will be in trouble. She seems to have stamina issue. Wonder if she is related to WD Ayaka Takahashi?
Oie and Takahashi Asuka are through to the main draw! It looks like there is going to be quite a rivalry between these two and Mizui Hirari. Incidentally, Takahashi Ayaka does have a younger sister, who plays WS, but it is not Asuka; ... it is Sayaka. By the way, if Watanabe Koki gets past R1, he will meet up with Heo Kwang Hee again. It is going to be interesting to see who has the upper hand this time around.
what happened to Kawakami? ex team A. she lost in round 1. She also withdrew from the previous tournament. Are there any injuries? She played pretty well at the Swiss Open, until the final and even though she ended up losing to Chen Yu Fei.
No injury is being reported. Incidentally, she took part in the last tournament, the Taipei Open, but lost to Michelle Li in R2. As you mention, she was doing well earlier this year: Swiss Open final, Orleans Masters winner, Osaka IC winner, and then ... total collapse. She hasn't managed to get past R2 anywhere.
sorry, i remember wrong. She withdrew from the Akita Master, not Taipei Open. Maybe Oie can surprise us in this tournament. Let's wait for Marin's performance tonight, if she can play just 50% of her performance before injury, I think she will win this tournament LOL
Thanks for the info. Yes, it is quite fun to watch Sayaka Takahashi. She is quite impulsive and unpredictable in her racket swing. So it can be sometimes hard for the opponent to predict. I sometimes suspect that even she herself take joy in seeing how the shuttle lands in some random corner. It would be good if she can re create all those winning shots then she can become more consistent. Momota, my favorite player can be sometimes a little bit predictable yet very very hard to beat because he can re create all his shots with almost perfect quality very very consistently. But that is just his external power. His internal power is even more impressive and hard to copy. I hope Naraoka, Watanabe, Shimono, Koga, Oie, Asuka Takahashi and Mizui will train hard and become World champions in the MS and WS category.
I hope that Momota stays around long enough to fend off a threat from any of the above. ... He could always benefit from a little more competition, though. Naraoka, seems to be encountering trouble with the NBA, which is never a good sign. A new badminton magazine was launched in August 2019 - Rakuminton Magazin (rakuminton = 楽ミントン, i.e., fun (bad)minton). The cover page was adorned with Naraoka and his father, and entitled, "A Genius who will not disappear - The Bluetooth between Naraoka father and son". There were separate interviews posted by both Naraoka and his father, with Naraoka junior commenting that, although Tokyo 2020 had been his dream, the fact that he had been dropped from the national team meant that he could not accumulate points, and that the objective was no longer realistic. Whilst the desire to win gold at the Olympics is still intact, Naraoka seems to value 自分らしさ (staying true to himself), and feels that the presence of his father is important here. When asked about his plans for the future, he mentions that he has various options, and that he intends to select an environment where he is able to sustain this 自分らしさ. Naraoka senior, for his part, comments that there has been criticism levelled against him for coaching his son, which he feels is unjustified. He does not understand what the problem of the relationship is. I am not sure of the effect of this article, but Naraoka has since been dropped from the list of players attending the World Junior Championships. Back to Vietnam: Many Japanese players face very tough tests today; let's see how many progress to the QF.
oh shiiiit... i hate to see this kinda stuff happen. if i'm reading this right is there a possibility a power struggle between nat'l team & kodai's father is taking place? is kodai's father a helicopter parent? in the worst case scenario if badminton is truly his ultimate goal maybe kodai should go to another country if they see no future in japan. if he is thinking about that route he needs to do it before he joins nba. because once he joins nba they will hold his player rights for life (in bwf's eyes) and could prevent him from playing for any other country. that doesn't nec'ly mean nba would actually prevent him from making a living from badminton in another country, but the possibility exists. it's possible he is already a member of nba so my strategy could be moot. this is all speculation on my part. i sure hope whatever friction is going on can get resolved.
Yep, I think you are reading this correctly, and that there is a power struggle going on, ... which I can't see Kodai winning unless he and his father's relationship is compromised. Incidentally, Naraoka is registered with the NBA, and he is actually still on the National Junior Team. I don't know what post-High School options he is considering, but for Japanese nationals, leaving their homeland for another country is not usually on the cards, ... unless they are 'indefinitely de-registered' from the NBA, as was the case with Tago.
Naraoka : experience still lacking, he lost 2 games after has 2 and 3 match points. Pity. Why I feel the way he hits shuttle looks like WS's skill, not MS's LOL
That was called game point . He is a runner. No extraordinary talent like kento momota or any of the juniors of his age. He dont have power or strategy. He simply returns the shuttle where his coach is asking him to do.
I haven't seen the match against Verma yet, but he's apparently made it a close affair. That's commendable in itself. Against Kuncoro, there were definite signs of improvement over past matches I've seen from him. His defence is quite excellent (smash defence especially), net play is good and he's added deception and varition in pace to his game. 18 is still extremely young for men's singles, so there is plenty of time to gather experience and get better. Definitely the outstanding talent in Japan and among the best in the world. The only worry seems to be the situation between his dad, who was only coach again against Kuncoro and the NBA.
It really is a no-win situation. Naraoka is no longer on the National B team, hence national coaches have no responsibility for him. Any tournaments he enters at the senior level this year are "self-financed", and here national coaches do not play a part. ... But if Naraoka doesn't finance himself, he will just go on losing points. Conversely, he may not be helping his relationship with the NBA by not participating in Junior tournaments. I don't think he has taken part in any this year, including the Asia Junior Championships. That having been said, I am not sure whether that is his policy, or whether the NBA is simply not registering him for them. I think that Naraoka discovered that he hadn't been entered for the World Junior Championships just prior to the Vietnam Open. That news may have impacted his game, ... I don't know. But whatever, we are talking about a WJC and Youth Olympic Games medallist here; why on earth has it come to this?
