Ahmad/(not injured) Natsir is good enough. Why Watanabe? I think even 2016 Zhang/Zhao can win Zheng/Huang.
I think zhang/zhao of 2015 can handle them. I doubt it. zhang yunlei wasn't that sharp anymore in 2016.
I think Kobayashi is the best back court player in Japan team right now but I doubt he really seriously wants to play XD (he did play some i think) , same with Wakana or Fukushima. They wont seriously put into it. Half fame in MD or WD for them is still better than XD.
I'm only theory crafting here but if Yuta played with some young gun like Kobayashi who actually has a stinging smash, he'd be doing wonders at the net. But of course, Japanese corporate system wouldn't let that happen I'm guessing. Wakana isn't good enough. Arisa is probably still the best option sadly.
Zhang Nan could stretch them to a rubber last year with Li Yinhui.. I think with Zhao Yunlei, they could work out a way around Zheng/Huang. Provided ZN not doing double duty though.
I don't know if I should stay up and sit through WD and MS in the second session before actually getting to watch the MD. The timing is so hard
I don't know. It's 1.10 here in Melbourne. I might fall asleep if WD gets boring with long rallies. Short rallies with smashes would be okay for me.