I didn’t see his loss in the mixed but I thought he and Arisa were playing pretty freely and normally today. It was a good match
No luck. Jinx this og. Other tournaments are ok. All the coaches are sweating for not doing well this og. Will they get fired? They will hijack Limpele maybe? Lol
I think that it's time for Yuta to get a new MD partner. To me the Olympics highlighted how weak Endo is in major tournaments. His serve was terrible, gifting many free points, and his tactical awareness wasn't there - like hitting up to Wang Chi Lin's forehand during a losing drive exchange. Gold medalists don't play like this - see Malaysia and their failed serves on gold medal points in Rio. I don't think Yuta was at his best either this Olympic games, definitely felt the nerves & pressure, but he performed a lot better than his partners.
I think Endo is retiring as well as Kamura/Sonoda? It would make sense why they aren't competing in upcoming tournaments. I have no idea who could pair well with Yuta in MD. Yugo Kobayashi is the only one I could even consider but that means splitting up an existing pair.
How about his former MD old partner, Kenya Mitsuhashi? They both are in the same team (Nihon Unysis). I don't know if they both can pair up and play well like Yuta when he was with Endo. Time will tell whether or not he will have a new partner or only play XD category.
Not as far as the 2022 National Team is concerned. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see if he is matched up with another Unisys player in the S/J League next month.
Nice Mixed Doubles win for Watanabe today at the All England, to take the All England title. Japan needs to find Watanabe a proper Men's Double partner for Watanabe. Since Endo retired, I'm not aware that Watanabe has a good Men's Doubles partner. But if Japan can find Watanabe a proper Men's Double partner that is as good as he is, or at least as good as Endo, Watanabe is also capable of producing a top 3 Men's Double team.
Considering Paris 2024 is in 2 years he should stick with XD only. Playing two events is already tough with a normal tournament schedule and with BWF jam-packing tournaments so close together it'll be even tougher to bring good results in both events (and also way easier to be injured).
Without a doubt. Not to be picky but he still lifts a lot. That means he will be relying on Higashino’s defense quite a bit. Today I think WYL was quite surprised by Higashino’s defense. Next time, I think opponent will adjust and we will see…
Watanabe was definitely looking weak, missing a lot of line shots and defence wasn't too great until the second half of the last set. It was Higashino who carried the ship until the last set, as Evident by fan cheers of her name, Watanabe cheering squad.
No, WYL was not surprised, in Denmark Open last year, Wata-higa beat them in semi-final and Thailand pair in final. If China can do something, they've already done after Denmark Open last year. If Higashino can defence like Endo, then China's done
Well that was the gameplan I guess, just lift and isolate WYL and tire him out, and that way they keep Huang out the game and the touch during rallies is lost. And they pretty much succeeded, WYL was tired the hell out in just two games.