May I ask about the JPN top players who decide to join in this tournament? I understand that this is the first tournament where the OG qualification starts and they take it seriously. But, SC is already near. And it is important for JPN team to prepare well in SC. What do you think?
Found this link through BWF Youtube channel - NZL Open, Day 1 (30 April 2019) : Court 1 : Court 2 : Most likely there'll be live streaming too for tomorrow matches (Court 1 & 2).
As you know, the top players taking part in the New Zealand Open are independently-financed; the NBA is not supporting them. But you are absolutely right about the problem of timing: New Zealand Open: Ends May 5 Japanese national training camp for SC: May 7 - May 16 SC: Starts May 19 As the top Japanese players can be expected to continue playing well into this week, they may well be too exhausted to perform at their best by the time it comes to the SC. ... This is nothing more than my personal opinion, but I have the impression that, with the exception of a player like Momota, who relishes team events and is seemingly secure in his Olympic slot, Japanese players and their corporate teams (to whom players tend to be more loyal than the NBA!!) will be giving priority to the Olympics. With competition for those coveted two slots per category simply too stiff, the Sudirman Cup does not look half as attractive.
Hmm, does that mean SC is not being held in high regard by the corporates? I just got this conclusion after reading your post. Yes, the Japaneses are generally more loyal to their corporates. In this case, I guess the JPN players have no choice but participate in this tournament. The only notable JPN players who skip this tournament are KM and NO. In NO's case, she can skip lower tournament without any intervention.
Ok, point taken, long hours of travelling, including airport transit, and insufficient rest or preparation before the opening match can affect anyone, esp youngsters who are not seasoned travellers. In another sense, we can put it down to unforeseen circumstances, let's hope NBA would take what the coach said as feedback, learn from the incident and take precautionary measures to prevent such things from occurring in future. Thanks for the info.
The Sudirman Cup isn't exactly a household name in Japan, therefore does not have much in the way of PR/publicity value. The corporations are aware of this, and will be eyeing the Olympics. But don't get me wrong; it is not only the corporations, but also the individual players who are targeting those medals.
This just means that the corporates have their own agenda to have their players qualified for Tokyo (more than just winning the Sudirman Cup for the team). Just like in WTF last year, what would be more glorifying for the corporation to have their players be the Olympics medalists?
KM is a trump card, and he didn't take part at New Zealand Open. There is Nishimoto, who can play first, second and third day in Sudirman. The same to Okuhara, she can play first 3 days of the tournament to substitute to Yamaguchi. the MD, XD and WD can play in rotation
I don't want to take anything away from Sun Feixiang's accomplishment today. But it's interesting to read this behind-the-scenes information. Masuda Keita can be refreshingly frank sometimes, and with a 30% increase in funding this fiscal year, I don't quite know why the NBA wasn't able to spend a little more on travel arrangements. The top players, incidentally, are independently-financed, and will ironically not have experienced the same "inconvenience".
I'm sure JPN takes the Sudirman Cup seriously and Park Joo Bong and coaches are experienced and capable enough to know what they are doing and will ensure their SC team members are at at their best for the campaign. On paper, Team Japan is the favourite to lift the Sudirman Cup this edition. Even the CHN coaches acknowledge as much.
Maybe, but Park Joo Bong and the NBA are not paying the players' salaries, and they are not calling all of the shots. I think it is going to be close.
Fair enough. Such incidents or unforeseen circumstances do affect the players' performance to varying degrees, even senior experienced players may not adjust well to it. I've seen a couple of Koki Watanabe's matches, he is a very promising young talent, 20 years of age now, born 29 January 1999, certainly an up-and-comer to watch.
Do you think that the case like in Syed Modi last year will happen again? If looking at the calendar, I assume that BAC next year is the last tournament of the OG qualification. Probably such case won't happen again. Nah, that's not effective. Why not substitute day after day? Like NO in the first day, AY the second, and then back to NO to the third, and so on. With this way, they will not be too drained.
Honestly, I don't know. Olympics is much bigger than just WTF, we'll never know what anyone (not just the JPN) would do. I wouldn't be surprised with anything out of ordinary.
In fact, I did. Somebody confused them in the other thread and I spontaneously decided that it was a suitable way to tease @terrynguyen121988 a bit. That being said, no-title-Nishikori is teasing him harder than I ever could. Game down against Lee Zii Jia. Ouch.
The tournament is over to me, Nishimoto lost at the first round. Cannot defence and make too much error. Nothing to say
