Hi there, kids! Kodai Naraoka (was pretty "meh" yesterday) vs Hashiru Shimono. Just saw a convincing Saena Kawakami beat Mako Urushizaki and Shida/Kobayashi embarrass themselves in XD. Yesterday, I watched Kento, who was in practice mode and Tonami Youngster Riku Hatono, who looks quite promising. Today is Yamaguchi vs Gunji, way too early in the tournament again. Can anyone else offer any impressions?
Edit: Yonex Team still features Sayaka Sato and Kurumi Yonao. I thought they had both retired. Sato even took a game off Takahashi the younger just now.
New here, but I've been watching the forum for the past few years . Sato didn't just take a game. She took the match! Naraoka should rethink his training situation. He lost to Shimono whom he beat quite easily at the same round last year.
Nishimoto's performance is going down. I don't know whether he stopped playing for a long time or just didn't increase pace. I didn't see something new from him.
Welcome! Quite a stunning achievement from Sato. Naraoka is a case of horrific management. Not too long ago, he could be considered a generational men's singles talent (world wide, not just national), along with Sen and Vitidsarn. Now the other two play increasingly big tournaments and represent their country and Naraoko doesn't even have a club while his game has stagnated. Given how sour his (or more likely, his father's) relationship with the NBA apparently is, performances like this won't make anyone in the administration feel like they're missing out on a great player. Career down the drain already. Yamaguchi/Gunji was a letdown, completely one-sided.
It is a shame about Naraoka. Japan could use a more reliable second MS for Thomas Cup than Nishimoto or Tsuneyama. He still has time so hopefully he can make the right changes after reflecting on today's disaster. Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance to prove himself to the administration this year. A comprehensive win by Yamaguchi this year. Good sign that she's back in form. Gunji, imo, is too impatient. She's too eager to attack. Two A team WS players out in the second round. Ohori proves she's still her own worse enemy. Total self-destruction after throwing away the first game.
An eventful R2 by any standards!! Thus far, the following national team members have been eliminated, thereby endangering their positions next year: National A Team: MS: Watanabe Koki 0-2 Onodera Yusuke (Unisys, MS domestic ranking No. 10) WS: Takahashi Sayaka 1-2 Sato Sayaka (Takahashi may well slip into retirement. Incidentally, Sato has already announced that the AJC will be her final tournament. Not a bad show, considering.) WS: Ohori Aya 0-2 Shimoda Natsumi (Hiroshima Gas, WS domestic ranking No. 15) MD Koga/Saito won by the skin of their teeth against Yamashita/Yamada, a university pair. National Team B: MS: Igarashi Yu 0-2 Minegishi Hikaru (Hosei U., MS domestic ranking No. 14) MS: Naraoka Kodai 1-2 Shimoda Hashiru (National Team B, Tonami) MS: Obayashi Takuma - withdrew before R1. WS: Oie Natsuki 1-2 Takahashi Asuka (National Team B, Yonex) WS: Nidaira Natsuki 0-2 Saito Shiori (ACT SAIKYO, WS domestic ranking No. 16) WS: Hayashi Moto <R1> 0-2 Sato Sayaka (Yonex, WS domestic ranking No. 21) WS: Gunji Riko 0-2 Yamaguchi Akane (National Team A, Saishunkan) MD: Kaneko/Kubota 1-2 Kaneko/Kawamoto (Unisys, new pair, no ranking) MD: Takano/Tamate 0-2 Takeuchi/Matsui (Hitachi Engineering, MD domestic ranking No. 7) WD: Otake/Takahashi 0-2 Sakuramoto/Takahata (National Team B, Yonex) XD: Midorikawa/Saito 1-2 Kaneko/Matsutomo (Unisys, new pair, no ranking) I think that sums it up. Now, what surprises are in store for us tomorrow?
Kaneko/Kubota, the 2017 World Junior Champions in MD, haven't really had any notable result since then. 3rd second round exit since joining Tonami. I kind of expected a bit more out of them.
Merry Christmas to you, @kurako I hope all is well and you'll have a nice few days of festive gluttony. Seems like several matches (including Momota, Okuhara and Nagamatsu) are only shown via NHK and not on the NBA Youtube channel. This will probably get worse for international viewers in the coming days. You may have to provide us with a few heads-ups on Kento's performances. Incidentally, Ohori - Shimoda was one of the very first badminton matches I watched a few years back and Shimoda was on the end of some appaling decisions by the umpires at the time and lost in three. This feels like justice. Ohori and Takahashi are very worrying for PJB though. Both looked like they'd rather do something else than play badminton. The younger players aren't good enough to replace them at the highest international level. As for further surprises: Matsuda/Hoshi look lean and fast and have taken a game from the Hokuto seniors (seeing them back is a surprise as well). Any takes on Naraoka?
Quintessential Shida/Matsuyama performance right there. The points for Sakuramoto/Takahata at the end of the last two games: Second game ,from 16-16 to 19-21: Unforced Error Matsuyama **** serve Matsuyama that leads to opponent's winner Unforced Error Shida Unforced Error Matsuyama Unforced Error Matsuyama Third game, leading 20-16 with 4 (four!) match points, to 20 - 20 Service Error Matsuyama Unforced Error Matsuyama Winner Takahata Unforced Error Shida That's unforced errors in 7 out 9 decisive points plus 1 really bad serve. Needless to say, the match point for Sakutaka was also a unforced error by Matsuyama. Simply not good enough. They might be dropped from the A team now, and rightfully so. Just like in WS, PJB has a problem either way, because Sakuramoto/Takahata aren't good at all. So he's got one really good WD, one that's potentially really good, but super nervy and afraid to play any pair that's not from Japan, and two significantly worse younger doubles, who won't win him any points in team competitions.
If anybody is wondering what happened in Momota's first game today, I found this link on Youtube. It was nerve wracking watching the live scores, but Momota again proved why he's world #1!
Thanks, this is a good match. Well done KM, I am quite impressed by Shimono as well, good attack, stamina dropped significantly by second and third games.
I think PJB will keep them in team A they have the ability to compete with the world's top players, far better than SakaTaku pair, have proven in several tournaments early this year. But let's see LOL
Koga played well, but also Nishimoto really lost concentration at important parts of that game. He kept going for more powerful smashes, hoping for winners from the back court and completely sacrificing his follow-up, ending up out of balance and allowing the opponent to counter attack.
The game highlights are posted above. He dropped the 1st game and then came back strong in the 2nd and 3rd. According to NTT twitter: " The early stage is a slow rise. After a long rally, I brought it to my rhythm and took the lead. In the second game, I raised the gear and won by a large margin while responding to the opponent who was aggressively attacking." "In the first game, I didn't feel well and dropped, but I recovered from the second game and raised consecutive points in the second half to 1-1. The final also won by a large margin from 11 consecutive points."