Yeah, the physical burden on team A is quite hard, it's good to see they take rest and train. By the way, the team which is sent to Tong Yun Kai cup is also quite good. Matsumoto/Nagahara is still world champion. Watanabe/Higashino is on rank 3 and this tournament China will not send their best XD. Inoue/Kaneko is below Han/Zhou but Watanabe also can play MD ^-^ I think MS and WS will decide who are the winners
Don't know how long this will be up, so better watch it fast. The first 25 minutes of this are undoubtedly the best 25 minutes in the history of television, maybe human activity as a whole: Also, there is now ample scientific proof that Sainshunkan >>> Unisys by about a million miles. I really don't know why we're bothering with these amateurs for the Superliga. Maybe they paid a lot of money for the learning experience, as they should.
The S/J League is continuing, with today's men's highlight being the match between Tonami and Hitachi, both vying for the top spot in "S Block" in preparation for next weekend's TOP 4 Tournament. I just now watched the livestream of the MS match between Takeshita Riichi (Tonami) and Inokuma Shintaro (Hitachi-to-be; currently Nihon University), which Takeshita won 2-1. Watching this, I realised why Takeshita was able to beat both Momota and Nishimoto in the 2017 All Japan Championships; his placement of shots is simply exquisite. Takeshita isn't a man who generally puts his feelings on display, but at the end of the match, there were emotional hugs with his team-mates. I hope I am wrong, but I have a hunch that this might have been his 'retirement match'. Post-script: Unfortunately, my hunch was right. Tonami won 3-0, and Takeshita, who also serves as team captain, confirmed in the post-match interview that his last competitive match took place today.
The block matches of the S/J League drew to a close today, with the overall results as follows: Accordingly the TOP 4 Tournament, scheduled on February 16-17, will be fought out amongst: Men: Tonami (S1), Hitachi (S2) NTT-East (J1), Nihon Unisys (J2) Women: Nihon Unisys (S1), Yonex (S2) Saishunkan (J1), Hokuto Bank (J2) A draw will be conducted tomorrow to determine whether "S1" will meet "S2" OR "J2", and conversely, whether "J1" will meet "S2" or "J2" at the semi-finals. An "S1" versus "J1" game will not feature at the SF stage. The remaining teams will play it out to decide their overall placings, e.g., for the men: 5th Place: JTEKT (S3) v Mitsubishi (J3) 7th Place: JR Hokkaido (S4) v Tohoku Marks (J4) 9th Place: Osaka Tricky Panders (S5) v Kanazawa Gakuin Club (J5) ...with the team losing the battle for 9th place being relegated to S/J League II... Now, as far as the women's teams are concerned, the 9th place contestants are Gifu Tricky Panders versus Hitachi Chemicals. If Gifu Tricky Panders end up losing this match, FukuHiro, the world no. 1 WS pair, will be demoted to League 2 at the domestic level, ... an irony indeed.
Sorry to post this thing here but can I ask you a question. I've red a newspaper and see the information that Ayaka Takahashi and Sayaka Takahashi were sisters, but I want to know that they were female cousins or siblings ?
Was Sayaka always playing singles from when she was young? I noticed that Ayaka was already playing with Matsutomo from when they were young. I would have thought that sisters would be natural doubles partners but it seems Ayaka had chosen Matsutomo as a partner from a young age.
I think recalling something like the coaches in high school paired them together... they didn't choose each other. Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk
Yeeeeehaa, Saishunkan won the top 4 tournament against Unisys! If anybody comes across any videos of that, you know where to find me.
While everyone is waiting for the honourable All England to commence, there are a couple of lesser tournaments starting tomorrow that feature a few National B Team members, including some of the fresher faces: 1. Barcelona Spain Masters WD Shida/Matsuyama (Saishunkan, National B) <independently-financed> WS Sato Sayaka was also due to participate, but withdrew due to injury. 2. Beer Lao International Series MS Omoto Shota (Nippon Sport Science University → Hitachi from April, National B) MS Koga Minoru (Waseda University → NTT-East from April, National B) <self-financed> MS Naraoka Kodai (Namioka HS, Junior National) <self-financed> MS Omoto Daisuke (NTT-East) <self-financed> MS Baba Yusei (NTT-East) <self-financed> WS Nidaira Natsuki (Tonami) <self-financed> WS Mizui Hirari (Futaba Future HS → NTT-East from April, National B) <self-financed> WS Oie Natsuki (NTT-East) <self-financed> XD Midorikawa/Saito (Saitama Sakae HS → Midorikawa = Waseda U; Saito = ACT SAIKYO from April, National B)
Two days ago, a joint club Saishunkan-Unisys won over top Indonesian badminton club, PB Djarum in the Djarum Superliga with the score 3-2. However, they lost against Mutiara Cardinal with the score 1-4. What do you think about this joint club? Looking from the table, I should say that this joint club will advance to SF.
Ayumi Mine (world rank #35) is the only national team member and subsequently the only player who has more than 10 tournaments under her belt. For the other players it is: Singles Yukino Nakai: #106, 8 tournaments Shiori Ebihara: #193, 3 Doubles Chisato Hoshi: #114, 3 Kie Nakanishi: #114, 3 Nao Ono: #168, 3 Rin Iwanaga: #245, 2 Reika Kakiiwa: #392, 1 It's a good opportunity for both clubs to give their bench players some competitive international experience, which they usually do not get. Given the quality of the players, this joint venture probably doesn't have any ambition of winning the competition and, as far as I can see, the results have been as expected. The only exception probably being Ayumi Mine beating GMT in straight games.
From what i know, Sayaka was always in Singles. Ayaka was in singles when she was young. Then got paired with Matsutomo later on.
JPN MD head coach, Reony Mainaky, has resigned from his position. The reason for this has something to do with him returning to his homeland, Indonesia. Incidentally, INA head coach (Kabidbinpres to be exact), Susi Susanti, already have one name to be listed as the INA WS head coach, which will be revealed during All England. If Reony ends up as INA WS head coach, it will be great. INA WS needs to catch up with the rest of the categories. On the other hand, JPN MD is searching for the new coach. Maybe JPN MD can recruit Tony Gunawan, who is currently a coach in Tonami club?
Mainaky will be staying on until the end of March (the end of the Japanese fiscal year). The NBA's Zeniya Kinji apparently requested that he remain several times, but to no avail. According to the news article, Mainaky is planning to return to Indonesia for "family reasons".
