Nozomi should be in front of Minatsu already. I believe I posted this somewhere last year. [video=youtube;5sNiL_QyDWo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sNiL_QyDWo[/video] As for Ai, it's just a matter of time before Nozomi catches up.
Certainly looks like Noz has upped her game a notch or two. Looking forward to seeing how she stacks up against elite competition.
depends what aZn picked we both submitted by PM, but my pick has already won and secured 10 pts, not sure if he selected LYH though.
Lol, maybe he went for broke like me and chose the 27-point LYH, who is currently down 5-8 in the rubber.
A dominance by Japan shuttlers here, won 4 titles in all JPN finals and TPE bagged the only one title remained through Chou Tien Chen who defeated his compatriot. Nozomi Okuhara secured her maiden GP title with convincing style, looking forward for her performance next...
That Nozomi chick is quite a looker....in terms of playing ability, of course (from the vid). Short-stocky built, yet nimble, has good enough footwork to cover the court and definitely packs a punch... LD rules! , i thought Mr. Ivanov could've won this yr's Canadian Open if he played>back to back big payday..
Definitely, Ivanov is a player that I quite like to watch, his height is quite an advantage and because of his doubles ability as well, he is good when the rally becomes flatter and also when opponents attack directly at him. Probably as he is playing in the Olympics though, it made sense to skip this tournament and do some intense training instead
I'm embarrassed to say that her calf muscles look larger than mine. She is built to win tournaments. Her name means hope in Japanese. In that video of the final set, Minatsu was at the wrong end of a 21-9 thrashing. Here is another of a match in the same tournament. Sayaka seemed to be throwing up her racquet in despair. [video=youtube;s1wO1Verrvg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=s1wO1Verrvg#![/video] More telling signs of a great future is that "I'm so very pleased with you" look on Kanako's face in her talks with Nozomi during the intervals between sets.
Finals Day: - I didn't have to line judge as I was re-assigned to Dope Control (maybe I just suck at line judging ). This was nice as I had to just want for the athlete to finish his/her game and then direct them to Dope Control to get a sample for testing. There were 4 athletes randomly selected but unfortunately Nozumi wasn't one LOL otherwise the boys would be falling over to get that assignment. All the competitors put it out there to win and it seems all of them would go the distance with 3 matches. As you know, there was delays in the final schedule due to the doubles events where players were involved in multiple event and the final order was XD, WS, MS, WD, MD giving the players ample time to recover from the XD event leading to the WD and MD matches. In no particular order, here's my summarization: - Our own Takamsa (as an umpire) was very picky about the line judges especially for the Semis and Finals and maybe he was right to as there were a number of instances where the Umpire had to overrule the line judge on calls throughout the day. - Nozumi was still practising shots after her win - talk about dedication. She was also very accommodating with requests for pictures, etc. She also ended up giving her bouquet of flowers to this sweet little girl who asked for her autograph. In fact, most of the bouquets were given away probably they won't be able to bring those back to Japan. - Lin injured himself in the middle of the third game but gamely continue on and finally had his ankle all taped out after the medal presentation. - After each match, both the winning and losing teams for the Japanese had to listen to each of the team coaches for feedback (there were three of them) on the match and areas for improvement, etc. - The Olympics bound Canadian team (Toby, Grace, Michelle & Alex) stayed the whole time to have their pictures taken and autographs. All the best to them as they head off to London today! - The Japanese team members were all on hand throughout the day watching and supporting their team mates and on hand to take pictures of the medal presentations . Finally they left as a group to walk back to the hotel except for those who were selected for dope testing. - it was strange to see Kyle Hunter compete in this tournament given that he is an official with Badminton Canada who is one of the sanctioned partner of the event. - Lots of local hopefuls competed in the tourney and luckily (as far as I know) none of them ended up a 21-0 score. The worst was a 21-1 with a number 21-2 and 21-3 scores. - Nice to have dry-fit shirts given to the volunteers instead of the cheap cotton ones. This is the final year for the event to be held in Richmond, it is kind of sad to see it go but it has been a fun 3 years and it is up to the next Canadian badminton association to raise the bar.
