What an amazing game Koki Watanabe. His game exhibits a huge improvement compared to the last time I saw him. No question about it being a deserved trophy, he played the best of all the players in the tournament at 166cm.
Yes, it is Imabeppu Kaori, one of the B-Team coaches specialising in singles. She is a National B Team coach, but her employer is Yonex. Actually, she used to play for Yonex.
Any idea why we didn't see more of Koki Watanabe since he met with Axelsen? Or maybe he was here but I was too focused on Momota. How about Momota - When can we expect to see him next? Badminton Asia?
Bloody damn good she is. Make her national coach. Identifying good coach is rare nowadays. But she proved again and again. For me , she scored century already.
Watanabe was promoted to Japan's A Team in January 2020, which proved unfortunate timing, due to the outbreak of COVID and subsequent cancellation of tournaments/participation. As his world ranking was 34 around this time, Watanabe had very few chances to make a mark on the international scene, even once tournaments resumed. In parallel, Watanabe's performance on the domestic stage has always been shaky; I don't think that he has ever got past the QF of the All Japan Championships, which also partially explains his demotion to the B Team this year. Having said that, I think that he is in much better hands with Imabeppu (Nakanishi, the A Team singles coach, deserves the sack), and has the speed and skills to exceed at least Tsuneyama, another player with a slight physique. He also has a far more efficient playing style than Naraoka. Both Watanabe Koki and Obayashi Takuma, who won the Vietnam IC yesterday, have potential.
Head coach? Not likely, but the A Team singles coach, Nakanishi, is in dire need of replacement. (Frankly speaking, it is about time that Head Coach PJB be put out to pasture, too. He has been at the helm since 2004.) That aside, it is refreshing to see that Imabeppu coaches MS, as well as WS. Somehow, I can imagine Okuhara doing this, too.
I remember how koki Watanabe surprised Viktor A at one time when he stretched the match to 3 sets. At that time I was also surprised that someone could take a set from Viktor. Yes, I imagine Okuhara will also be a great coach. I hope she will push the players hard and make them use their talents well and not waste them away like what I see so often in the talented Nishimoto. Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk
