Badminton in Japan

Congratulation to both Yamaguchi Akane and Okuhara Nozomi! When i watch both playing fast in the Japan Opens 2019 final, it almost look like 2 Sonics attacking each other. With their height, their excellent footwork speeding to all corners of the court are very visible... and delightful to watch ... because in badminton, the pattern of their movements around the court are not monotonous but random. Both have excellent skills and physical power! AY is a better this time.

 

Bonus point for them to share the podium and hold Japan's flag together. When NO won back at 2015, the similar situation occurred.

 

Unfortunately, Japan's women's double didn't win this time.

 

At least, Japan is the overall winner here. Besides that, Kim/Kong deserve the title. They have been doing great this year.

 

I actually saw him in a formal suit at the Japan Open, but as of July 31, Sakai Kazumasa (National A Team, WR #42) has left Nihon Unisys to rejoin his former team, Kanazawa Gakuin Club. This leaves Nihon Unisys with only Watanabe Koki and Igarashi Yu (both National Team B) as the principal MS players. Will the corporate team make a bid for Naraoka Kodai?

 

what happened to MatsuNaga? since the Sudirman Cup, their performance has dropped lately

 

I don't know. Even though TakaMatsu have not been winning titles lately, their overall performance in the last three tournaments are much more promising in terms of the road to 2020 than Nagahara and Matsumoto. Since their WC victory and French Open, they haven't shown much promising results...always losing in finals.

 

They first need to do low serves properly in matches.

 

The serve problem is WD Japan's problem for a long time, so I don't think that's the main reason.

NagaMatsu is more like losing confidence, a little like Okuhara's current situation?

TakaMatsu is the smartest WD Japan, but unfortunately the least fit compared to other WD Japan.

FukuHiro too, are they only able to play full concentration for one tournament? I think they are quite fit, but unable to maintain momentum.

May TanaYone be able to win this tournament. This is really a good opportunity for them and we haven't seen them on the highest podium for a long time.

 

Matsumoto cannot defend if her life depended on it. Pretty obvious she's where her opponents are targeting in yesterday's match and last week's final in Japan Open. She and Nagahara can only win against their own compatriots because they practice against each other so much they know each other's weaknesses. But against other countries pairs they struggle. I won't be surprised if this pair is not selected for one of the two pairs representing Japan WD for Tokyo OG.

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I agree with UKnowWho. We have not seen Tanaka and Yonemoto win anything since Dubai SS Finals 17.
It's good to prove to NBA that they are still worth something. Otherwise, they might get the boot from A team soon I feel.

 

All three WD pairs looked fatigued already. Too late since the Olympics is right around the corner but Japan should do some kind of rotation if TanaYone wins in Thailand between the 4 pairs - assuming their rankings won't be an issue.
Consecutive 1000, 700 and 500 tournaments

 

Provided that they advance that far, here is the new look that Bird Japan will be sporting in the SF and Finals of the World Championships! This "Best 4" model will apparently be available for sale from mid-August (http://www.yonex.co.jp/badminton/news/2019/08/1908051600.html).

 

YONEX Akita Masters 2019 ( 8/13/2019 to 8/18/2019) has many interesting Japanese players. I hope there will be some live streaming or at least replays.

 

As the holders, TakaMatsu have the luxury of biding their time until closer to the team selections...everyone already knows they can go all the way against foreign teams.

I think after winning the big medal, they’re somewhat like Marin in that they won’t go all out unless the stakes are really high. If they still have the motivation to win gold and go back into hard core mode, I think they’ll start to look very different closer to Tokyo2020.

 

The tournament website mentions that there will be livestreaming on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCftEVeRm0lWHVhotP1pX1Og/live

 

I have drawn up a table that lists which Japanese MS and WS players are scheduled to feature in the upcoming Akita Masters, Chinese Taipei Open, and Vietnam Open.

The Akita Masters starts tomorrow at 9:30 am Japanese time, and apparently there is live-streaming at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCftEVeRm0lWHVhotP1pX1Og/live.

 

Hmmm..., Naraoka's opponent today is old enough to be his father.

 

Tomorrow's matches at the Akita Masters will include Sakai Kazumasa vs Naraoka Kodai and Watanabe Koki vs Koga Minoru. I am hoping that Naraoka and Watanabe advance, and go on to meet each other at the QF.