If we only look at score, A.Takahashi can make Yamaguchi worked hard And I disagree with your opinion about Takahashi's drained stamina, unfair to Yamaguchi, maybe you forgot, Yamaguchi returned from a 3-week tournament in a row, even though she only played 9 matches
Actually, I miscalculated; Takahashi played five more matches than Yamaguchi in the last four days. Are you trying to argue that Yamaguchi is going to be more fatigued from playing nine matches in three weeks? Yamaguchi may not be on top of her form at the moment, but that differs from stamina issues.
Is the game between Akane and A. Takahashi played yet. As much as I like Akane , I also love to see A. Takahashi taking full advantage of this tournament to move up. If her stamina is ok and she can stay focused ..., maybe this is possible ... 1) A. Takahashi (gold) 2) Okuhara (silver .. sorry , i also like Okuhara but ... ) 3) Akane (bronze) Oie and R. Gunji - unlucky but next time. Otherwise, 1) Okuhara 2) A. Takahashi 3) Akane
Takahashi Asuka lost to Yamaguchi today in the QF. The score was 21-16, 24-22. Takahashi had the disadvantage of starting from the qualification stage, and not only was she entered for WS; she was also entered for WD. Hence, on Tuesday 26 she played 4 matches, and on Wednesday 27, 2 matches. It was a bad strategy, and probably a little too much. So, Takahashi Asuka ended up in the 5th~8th place category. This means that the WS category of Team A is expected to remain unchanged. SF action tomorrow starts from 12:00 noon Japan time, and the order is as follows: Main Location 1 WD Takahashi/Matsutomo (Team A, Unisys) v Nagahara/Matsumoto (Team A, Hokuto Bank) WS Yamaguchi Akane (Team A, Saishunkan) v Ohori Aya (Team A, Tonami) MS Momota Kento (Team A, NTT-East) v Sakai Kazumasa (Team A, Kanazawa Gakuin Club) WS Takahashi Sayaka (Team A, Unisys) v Okuhara Nozomi (Team A, Taiyo Holdings) MD Okamura/Onodera (Team B, Unisys/Waseda U) v Endo/Watanabe (Team A, Unisys) Main Location 2 XD Watanabe/Higashino (Team A, Unisys) v Midorikawa/Saito (Team B, Waseda U/ACT SAIKYO) WD Fukushima/Hirota (Team A, American Vape) v Shida/Matsuyama (Team B, Saishunkan) XD Kaneko/Nakanishi (Unisys) v Nishikawa/Ozaki (NTT-East) MS Tsuneyama Kanta (Team A, Tonami) v Nishimoto Kenta (Team A, Tonami) MD Sonoda/Kamura (Team A, Tonami) v Koga/Saito (Team B, NTT-East)
Unlucky for A.Takahashi. But 24-22 is really close. That does show she put up a good fight until the very end. Like you said, bad strategy. Anyway, happy to see Akane recovering well. Wonder if I get to see another Okuhara vs Akane again. Two high speed electrifying Sonics. Badminton is one of the few sports, challengers have to move in all 4 directions at high speed randomly. infact, more than 4 considering, low shots and high shots verticaly. In tennis, players run right and left and even if run to the front, they turn their body around to run back to the back. In badminton, the fun is ... have to hop, jump, fly or run backwards while trying their best not to turn their body around unless they really have no choice. Other sports that I can think of are sports like boxing or fencing. So, when I see Okuhara and Akane battle it out, considering their size, their random movements to all corners of the court looks really amazing.
Yeah, I get what you're saying. Shidamatsu have not covered themselves in glory either. But the fact remains that Sakutaka simply couldn't take advantage of the opportunities they had and also didn't win today (with Shidamatsu having played a final on sunday) in a direct confrontation. Takamatsu will surely retire after next season, maybe even straight after the Olympics. Until then, Sakutaka can spearhead the B team, get their confidence back by winning matches and tournaments and then enter team A at the start of 2021 at the latest. That is all theory, by the way. Mabye PJB doesn't want to force Kei Nakajima (and himself) to watch Nami Matsuyama make 15 outrageous unforced errors each match and will decide to go with Sakutaka anyway.
Will probably soon be taken down, so be quick: Qf Momota vs Koga Qf Okuhara vs Oie R16 Yamaguchi vs Gunji
I took an early morning shinkansen to Tokyo to see the SF of the All Japan Championships and, as usual, got lost at Shibuya Station. In a slightly bad mood, I finally arrived at Komazawa Olympic Park, only to discover that my arena seat was the furthest away you could possibly get from Court 1! Hence, whilst I had the best of views of Court 2, I ended up watching Momota out of the corner of my eye.... Well, I suppose it wasn't much more than a demonstration match anyway. My seat was actually adjacent to the seats reserved for coaches and players. Half of Japan's coaching team were heavily masked; PJB sat alone talking to nobody, whilst Nakajima Kei and a host of animated buddies were seated further aback. PJB left before the day concluded; I think possibly during the matches scheduled fourth on the agenda. Now onto my trivial impression of the matches: MS Momota v Sakai: No comment needed; these two players are just in different leagues. Sakai is a relatively tall player by Japanese standards and has a penetrating smash. However, he was unable to apply much in the way of pressure, and was simply toyed with. Momota was so unfazed that he was watching the Nishimoto v Tsuneyama match between points! And when it came to the G2 interval, Sakai's coaches just grinned. He needs to be replaced. Nishimoto v Tsuneyama: This started off like a Tonami practice session, but turned into a real hair-raiser by G3; definitely the highlight of the day. Tsuneyama was the speedier and more creative of the two, often taking the initiative and leading on tactics. But (unfortunately), this time, Nishimoto's dogged retrieval skills paid off. WS Again, Yamaguchi v Ohori was played on Court 1, and I didn't have the best of views. Nevertheless, there was a lot of entertainment value in this match, and certainly no absence of magic from Yamaguchi, ... but also many, many unforced errors. Ohori, for her part, played a good defensive game, making use of her long limbs, and also applied some nice angles in her drop shots. I really hope that she can reproduce this quality of game against Okuhara tomorrow. Okuhara v Takahashi Sayaka ... also on Court 1. Due to the lack of variety in shots, this was one of the more tedious matches. Okuhara → clear, clear, clear, clear, accurate drop; Takahashi → clear, clear, smash, smash, find the net or the other side of the line. Again, so many unforced errors by Takahashi; it must be really frustrating for her coaches. And it will be really frustrating for me if Okuhara wins tomorrow with this type of game. MD Both SonoKam and Endo/Watanabe played against vastly inferior pairs, so there was never any doubt about the outcome. Actually, the skills margin was so wide, that PJB may want to consider keeping Inoue/Kaneko on Team A. Neither Koga/Saito nor Okamura/Onodera look quite ready for the big stage. Oh, and I don't know why, but I didn't realise until today how classy a player Endo is. He and Watanabe have a really stylish game. WD TakaMatsu v NagaMatsu: G1 did the damage. There was a fierce onslaught of smashes and gruelling rallies, which TakaMatsu had no answer for. They look to be fading out. FukuHiro v ShidaMatsu: There was some very good shot placement by ShidaMatsu, and Matsuyama seems to have improved all-round, ... but they need to work on a more powerful smash. FukuHiro were robust, as always; they have very few chinks in their armour. XD There is only one XD in Japan.... But Midorikawa showed promise. Actually, to be fair, some cameramen relocated from Court 1 (TakaMatsu v NagaMatsu) to Court 2 to film this particular match. ---------------------------------------------- Tomorrow, I will watch the finals. The action starts from 10:00 Japan time, and the order of play is: XD Watanabe/Higashino (Team A, Unisys) v Nishikawa/Ozaki (NTT-East) WD Fukushima/Hirota (Team A, American Vape) v Nagahara/Matsumoto (Team A, Hokuto Bank) MS Momota Kento (Team A, NTT-East) v Nishimoto Kenta (Team A, Tonami) WS Ohori Aya (Team A, Tonami) v Okuhara Nozomi (Team A, Taiyo Holdings) MD Sonoda/Kamura (Team A, Tonami) v Endo/Watanabe (Team A, Unisys) So, with the exception of Nishikawa/Ozaki, all the players are National Team A members. I had been hoping for a couple of usurpers. Incidentally, my wish list is: XD Watanabe/Higashino (this is the only foreseeable outcome) WD Fukushima/Hirota (their coach does look dubious, though) MS Momota, of course. WS Ohori Aya, .... please. MD Endo/Watanabe -----------------------------------------------
Any place to watch full matches rather than just digest videos please? I don't mind even if it's not live. Thanks!
Desktop: https://live.qq.com//10128769 Mobile: https://m.live.qq.com//10128769 Mobile app: Install the app and search with 10128769 I am able to see in Mobile app. The commentary is japanese, so didn't understand anything. Play hard. Train harder.
More Looking forward on the next year team A and B namelist especially WD and MD. HopevWatanabe / Endo will win..
