The 2023 team selection announcement is out. https://www.badminton.or.jp/press_release/docs/nationalPlayer_info_20221230.pdf The division between Team A and Team B will be determined later.
Inoue and Onodera are out, with Okamura and Mitsuhashi being paired together. Yamashita/Midorikawa do not feature on the MD list.
The NBA threw a curve ball at us! There was no way we could have predicted the Team B selection! In a way, I am glad that the association is taking a different approach. I wonder if the new management has anything to do with it.
If this was the case, it's good. I was curious how Nishimoto won Momota in clubs tournament, just 1 or 2 weeks ago. Does anyone know a sourse to watch ?
You mean the S/J League match played between NTT-East and JTEKT on November 7? Yes, that was a good match for Nishimoto, in that it proved the first time ever that he was able to defeat Momota in a domestic setting. But today, Momota didn't give Nishimoto any leeway, and Nishimoto looked quite taken aback. It really was a curious turnaround.
Sorry, I just woke up, too tired to watch all the matches today, and I have to go to sleep at 5pm. CLB = clubs, my mistake (I forgot that I was in a international web ) And yeah, what you say was what I mean. Nishimoto got trouble today, cannot win by play in "slow speed", but when play faster, cannot be accurate like Momota. That's why I want to watch the match before.
Momota said that he was still not up to this week's level during the S/J league matches. I don't know what or how he did it in such a short amount of time, but I'm glad he pulled it off somehow .
Not putting Okuhara on Team A is like dealing her career a death blow. She might as well announce her retirement right after the team selection announcement. However, I do agree that if she's going to be out on injury breaks this often then it's better to give the spot to someone else. Inoue and Mitsuhashi have terrible chemistry and Japanese fans have been calling for Okamura to dump Onodera so this is probably a good thing. The commentators kept saying during Midorikawa/Yamashita's match that Midorikawa wants to be considered for MD too so this must be disappointing for him. He's going to be stuck with Saito for the foreseeable future. Saito needs to level up. Takahashi Miyu fans in Japan are livid that the Otake/Takahashi pair did not get on the list despite making SF. I think the NBA should have gone one step further and drop Iwanaga/Nakanishi for Otake/Takahashi. The former don't have anything special going for them and they also don't look like they'll improve any further either. Is this the first time we've ever had this many high school students on the national team? Five of them, and none of them is a third year. I know that I've been talking a lot about the second year players this week. I'm glad that the NBA agrees with me . Other countries have been sending their best juniors to senior tournaments. It's about time Japan does the same.
Must be looking towards Los Angeles 2028. Given the disaster of Tokyo 2020, getting these juniors in, being exposed to the Paris 2024 Olympians, experiencing the training program and perhaps taking them as sparring partners to Paris 2024 would make perfect sense. No matter how dominant a player or pair is, the Olympics is only one tournament and anything can happen.
My guess will be: Team A men Momota-Nishimoto-Naraoka 100% Stuneyama 50%, Koki Watanabe 50% Team A women: Okuhara-Yamaguchi-Gunji-Asuka Takahashi
Just a quick list of who has been dropped from the national team. MS: Koga Minoru (NTT-East, AJC R2), Moriguchi Koshiro (BIPROGY, AJC Not qualified) WS: Mizui Hirari, NTT-East, AJC R1), MD: Onodera Masayuki (BIPROGY, AJC R2), Inoue Takuto (BIPROGY, AJC SF), Takano/Tamate (Hitachi Eng., AJC QF) WD: Hobara/Suzuki (Yonex/NTT-East, AJC QF) XD: Nishikawa/Ozaki (NTT-East, AJC QF), Nidaira/Asakura (NTT-East, AJC R1) Yamada/Ikeuchi (NTT-East/77 Bank, AJC QF) And a list of new additions. MS: Obayashi Takuma (Tonami, AJC QF), Muramoto Ryoma (JTEKT, AJC SF) WS: Kurihara Akari (Tsukuba U. 3rd Yr, AJC QF), Suizu Manami (ACT SAIKYO, AJC QF), Miyazaki Tomoka (Yanai Shoko HS, 1st Yr., AJC R2) MD: Ogawa/Kumagai (Nihon U., 3rd Yr., AJC R1), Okimoto/Tanioka (Saitama Sakae HS/Futaba Future HS, 2nd Yr., AJC→ Did not play as a pair) WD: Sudo/Yamakita (Futaba Future HS, 2nd Yr., AJC R1) XD: Eto/Kamiyama (Nippon Sport Science U., 4th Yr., AJC R2), Shimogami/Sato An (Hitachi Eng./Showa Denko, AJC→ Did not play as a pair), Nishi/Sato Akari (Ryukoku U., 4th Yr., AJC SF) Actually, NTT-East has lost 8 players from the national team; quite a shocking number.
Happy to see that Miyazaki has made it on to the national team! I'm hoping that Obayashi will also become stronger as well, good enough to contend for a spot on team A Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk
5 of the players are from the XD category where NTT-East had an early advantage due to having both a male and female team. Others are starting to realize that their best chance to make the national team is through XD and are mobilizing . I think Nishikawa is a decently good XD player. Unfortunately for him, his partner is completely hopeless. By the way, it's Nihei/Asukura, not Nidaira/Asakura. Don't you just love Japanese names .
Japan's domestic ranking tables have been updated to reflect the result of the AJC. The MS top ten order now reads: 1. Momota Kento (NTT-East) 2. Nishimoto Kenta (JTEKT Stingers) 3. Naraoka Kodai (IMG) 4. Tsuneyama Kanta (Tonami) 5. Tanaka Yushi (NTT-East) 6. Obayashi Takuma (Tonami) 7. Omoto Shota (Hitachi Engineering) 8. Koga Minoru (NTT-East) 9. Hatano Riku (Tonami) 10. Takahashi Koo (Tonami) Watanabe Koki (BIPROGY) languishes at No. 11.
While I do not know Naraoka's current physical condition, if he is still injured, I would much rather him pull out of Malaysia Open than risk injuring himself further. But of course, he will know his body best Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk
In the middle of all the excitements of the Malaysia Open, the Team A and Team B memberships had been decided a couple of days ago! Team A MS: Momota, Nishimoto, Tsuneyama, Naraoka WS: Yamaguchi, Okuhara, Ohori, Gunji MD: Hoki/Kobayashi, Koga/Saito, Matsui/Takeuchi, Endo Ayato/Takei Yuta WD: Fukushima/Hirota, Nagahara/Matsumoto, Shida/Matsuyama, Sakuramoto/Miyaura XD: Watanabe/Higashino, Kaneko/Matsutomo, Yamashita/Shinoya, Midorikawa/Saito Gunji, Endo/Takei, Sakuramoto/Miyaura, and Midorikawa/Saito had been promoted to Team A. Watanabe Koki and Iwanaga/Nakanishi, on the other hand, had been demoted to Team B. Team B MS: Watanabe Koki, Tanaka, Hatano, Takahashi Koo, Obayashi, Muramoto WS: Takahashi Asuka, Kawakami, Nidaira, Suizu Manami, Kurihara Akari, Miyazaki MD: Okamura/Mitsuhashi, Nishida/Mezaki, Ogawa/Kumagai, Okimoto/Tanioka WD: Nakanishi/Iwanaga, Hirokami/Kato, Sudo/Yamakita, Hobara/Suizu Yui XD: Nishi/Sato Akari, Kumagai/Sato An, Eto/Kamiyama Shimogami, who was originally paired with Sato An in XD, withdrew his name so Sato An is now paired with Kumagai, who was originally picked for MD only. Hobara/Suizu Yui pair is a late addition. Hobara was paired with Suzuki Hinata last year, and Suizu played with corporate teammate Shigeta Miku at the AJC.
Yes; last year, the announcement came on January 17, and I thought that the selection team might possibly wait until the end of the Malaysia Open, prior to making a decision. But not so, it seems. One other addition to the B team demotion list is Takahashi Asuka, which hardly comes as a surprise. She was starting to pick up at the end of last year, though, and may continue on that trend this year. As far as I am concerned, Ohori, and possibly Okuhara, too, will find it difficult to perform well, and Gunji is a big question mark. Currently, Japan's WS category is shored by one player.
