Yeah, not to mention all the contracts and whatnot. If anything, it's likely Koga would have to go to BIPROGY to pair with Watanabe unless Higashino joins him at NTT. On a separate note, I enjoy seeing Koga pair with Watanabe. While not Endo level, I prefer him over Hoki. From last year's and this year, Koga seems to better complement Watanabe (and totally not because I don't want to hear Hoki's excessive roaring watching my favourite active player). Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
A few posting back before Thomas/Uber cup started, .. Park Joo Bong was worried about Okuhara's injury. Also, another post said that Okuhara was hopping that she will recover in time for the Uber cup. So i guess that once she was leading the first half of the final match, she wanted to take it easy a bit and hope she could use the back court lobbing because that usually gives more time for the shuttle to get back. Japanese players trained well for back court attacks but they should not overuse it especially when the opponent is already guarding the back court well and expect the shuttle to come to the back court. The opponent will turn the back court into an opportunity to launch deadly cross - court smashes or straight smashes with an angle that is hard to defend. It seems to me the Japanese coaches have not emphasized practicing how to smash attack from the back court. When you have not practice enough, you have no confident to use it during matches even when opportunity comes. And when you try too use it, you will make errors. Attacking is an instinct so is defending. If you don't make use of attacking instinct enough in your game, the instinct becomes dormant and not active. Then when attacking opportunity comes you just throw the chance away and hand the attacking initiatives back to your opponent. Then your only choice is to defend or try to turn defence into a counter attack. Akane also had a good lead. Then she took the wrong gamble and started lobbing to back court confident of her accuracy. It became a kind of comfort zone where you can't score point and opponent can't score point. Maybe Akane was also injured because she slipped so much. I'm sure every player knows that if Akane or Okuhara were in good enough conditions it is very difficult to beat them.
I'm happy Nishimoto played well and live up to his potentials. J Christie was in good form and had won gold in few tournaments. Not an easy player to beat. I always saw potentials in Nishimoto. I just felt he should develop a style that is suitable for him. If I didn't see potentials in him I wouldn't be so disappointed with him. It is the coach who should try to bring out his potentials and help him play with a style that is suitable for him. I also like Sayaka Takahashi. She has been improving well lately. Cutting down on unforced errors. Unfortunately, she didn't have the chance to play this time.
Badminton Spirits published a few comments from the players after their SF losses. Below are comments from the Uber Cup team. The comments have been roughly translated, and I only translated the parts about the matches. -Yamaguchi (in regard to dropping the 2nd and 3rd games) The opponent was hitting from the slow side of the court so she was able to push the shuttle decisively. I wanted to raise my speed but I wasn't really able to do it, so there were few rallies where I had the initiative. I wasn't able to put pressure on the opponent. -Okuhara I dropped the first game, but there was a good flow to the second game. The start of the third game was also good, and it would have been good to have played like in the second game, but against the opponent's perseverance, my stamina dropped. It was a shame that I was unable to endure it. I can't see why the team had to field Yamaguchi for all of the ties. She should have been rested in the tie against Indonesia. Even if they didn't want to field Okuhara, Kawakami Saena could still have played the second single. As for Okuhara, I still think she just lost to the pressure. The match was not that physical, and she was comfortably cruising in the 3rd game, only to give away a string of cheap points and opened the door for her opponent to stage a come back, giving herself even more pressure.
Here are the comments from the Thomas Cup Team: -Momota I think I was able to give it everything I had. In the third game, I knew that the opponent would raise his speed and go on the offensive so I tried to properly defend it. -Nishimoto Depending on the side of the court, the shuttle flies differently. Regarding that, I think I was able to control the drift, and also controlled my mentality well. Of course there was pressure, but I was able to properly suppress it. -Koga We have more confidence in our defense than attack. With Yuta's help in covering, I was able to defend well. -Watanabe (Regarding the pressure) There's pressure in every match. The opponents are ranked higher so I think they had more pressure. We were able to play well as the challengers. There were comments from Hoki/Kobayashi, but they were not worth translating. Basically they were not in good form for this tournament and that they're very frustrated about losing that first game. I wanted to hear what Naraoka had to say about the pathetic fight that he put up, but nothing. Even Tago talked at length about Naraoka's lack of a fighting spirit on court. Win or lose is not as important, given the difference in experience and ranking, but that lack of fire and desperation was just disappointing. What a let down, given how his seniors gave it their all to give him a chance to play. I hope he watched the match between Ginting and Sen, and learn a thing or two about what it means to play in a team event.
For me, the biggest villains for this campaign would be Hoki/Koba and Naraoka (Momota was being dismal as usual, so I've got nothing expected of him). To give up a 17-7 lead in the first game is ludicrous. I find it hard to forgive the MD1 against Ahsan and Kevin. As for Naraoka, I didn't see the desire to ride on the momentum of the previous two hard-fought matches and try to win. He was just giving away the initiative, hence Rhustavito was scoring at will with his smashes.
Tago certainly commented on the Thomas Cup, ... on his YouTube channel. And this time he did not let his money-making instincts get the better of him. The video is unedited, and free for everyone to watch, ... albeit in Japanese. Which shows how vexed he was. Basically, Tago has the following to say about the performance of the men's team at the semi-finals, including some criticism of the way the coaching staff are managing/training the team. I have liberally organised the content. 1. On the pressure faced by the team: Compared to Indonesia, where badminton is considered a national sport with a large following, and the danger of 'bashing' is real, Japan should not be underperforming due to this factor. Quite the reverse, the team needs to apply much more pressure on itself. 2. Naraoka was not to blame for his loss when Japan was was at the critical 2-2 juncture, as he had not been exposed to higher ranking tournaments, or trained to respond in this type of situation. 3. Indeed, the largest problem lies with the Head Coach and other coaches, whose strategy, at best, is makeshift, with little in the way of long-term vision. 4. It is odd that Watanabe Koki, who was promoted to Team A two-three years ago, and who, by virtue of being an Team A member should have been given the opportunity to play, was not even part of the delegation. Who is to take responsibility for his current predicament? Why is he not being nurtured more as a player? Who is it, who had him placed on Team A in the first place? On the reverse side of the coin, Naraoka is going to turn 21, but has still to be promoted to Team A (a player's age at the time of promotion makes a huge difference.) Nevertheless, he was still used at the most important part of the tie-up, ... and failed to get the desired result. The coaches should, two or three years ago, have foreseen that they may well face this type of predicament. Why wasn't Naraoka promoted to the A-team at that point? This would have given him the opportunity to accumulate experience in top tournaments. He wasn't even deployed in the QF at the Thomas Cup, but then suddenly, in the final match of the SF, thrown into the limelight, ... a Team B player. Given the situation, it was impossible for him to compete. 6. Hoki/Kobayashi couldn't even manage the fundamentals of the game. In their case (as may also be true of Shida/Matsuyama), results currently being achieved in tournaments actually exceed their 'real ability'. They need to be aware of this phenomenon, and revisit the basics of the game. Otherwise, there will come a point when they will no longer be able to win. 7. With regard to Bird Japan, Team B is of particular concern. The coaching staff have proven slow in preparing for the future, with attention being paid to getting results at a given moment only, i.e., winning now. Why restrict Team A membership to four MS players? Anyone with potential should be able to mix with the team. If this isn't done, then the future of Japanese badminton is bleak. Other countries are changing and developing. Why not Japan? 8. The coaching set-up is paralysed. Putting aside Nishimoto, who seems to be performing well, we have an off-form Momota, a possibly injured Tsuneyama, and non-existent Watanabe Koki. Nakanishi, single-handedly, cannot deal with this situation; Team B staff members need to be utilised. Momota has a 'national status' in Japan; he needs far more support to help him regain his form. Five or six staff members should be around him with the aim of raising his level. Otherwise, it is going to be difficult. A more concerted effort is needed. -----
I think Okuhara's calf injury hasn't fully recovered and she don't want to put too much stress on it. Hope she will be fully recovered as soon as possible.
This carpet in this tournament was so slippery. Many players didn't want to play it and just take part as a duty to fulfill 5/5 of super tour 500 in a year. Players (especially who play single), will not try hard to win.
I agree with your assessment of HokiKoba. For a reigning world champion pair to not contribute a single point in the whole campaign and to also mess up the lead that badly is just unbelievable. I know that their world championship title was pretty weak, but still, they've got a title to live up to. Naraoka, on the other hand, lacks the experience for the occasion, so I can't blame him as much, but as the clear underdog, he should have fought like there's nothing to lose like how Sim Yu Jin fought and put the pressure on WZY to not lose. I gave up on him a few points into the second game. There just wasn't any reason to keep cheering for him and to believe that he could win the game.
That’s because Naraoka dint even bother trying. He probably gave up after he lost the first few points. hoki/koba, i dun get it. Sure, the world championship was weak when they won but that’s there case for LKY as well and he won all his matches.
Japan's second most important domestic tournament, the Ranking Circuit, will be held in Saitama from Saturday, May 28 to Wednesday, June 1. It will feature players on National B Team, as well as up-and-coming talent. Details of participants/the draw/results, albeit in Japanese, are (will be) available at the following site: https://www.badminton.or.jp/ranking/circuit/2022/index.html. At this stage, I am still not quite sure whether the event will be live-streamed, or not.
Just to correct myself a little... Maybe not too much in the way of up-and-coming talent will feature at the Ranking Circuit. The problem being that most domestic tournaments in Japan have been put on hold for the last two years. This, in turn, means that no new talent has had the chance to amass any points and, therefore, that no new faces will qualify for this tournament. In short, we will see the same 'up-and-coming talent' that played two years ago..., and this may well have gone stale by now. The situation is really quite worrisome.
Up-and-coming tournaments (as opposed to up-and-coming talent) for Team B include the XII Santo Domingo Open (International Series) commencing on June 8. Entries comprise: MS: Takahashi Koo, Moriguchi Yoshiro (... I still cannot fathom under what pretext the latter got a place on the Team) MD: Endo/Takei, Nishida/Mezaki XD: Yamada/Ikeuchi, Nihei/Asakura There is not much else on the horizon for this level until the Akita Masters in late July.
I like to follow the progress of Kodai Naraoka and Tanaka Yushi. Really happy if there is any live stream or otherwise, quick video upload of matches played. Thanks Kurako for helping us keep up with badminton in Japan. Japan's MS category is shaky at the moment. Nishimoto has good talent and abilities but not consistent and reliable. Tsuneyama (sorry if incorrectly spelled) also same. Momota is kind of missing. Big question about Coaches in Japan for MS. Are they really doing their homework, taking notes about how the current top players in the World are training and progressing. Are they analysing videos and studying carefully what weak points that need improvements? For now, it certainly look like doing the same thing over and over and over hoping for a different result. Coaches from other countries are studying and analyzing Momota and training players how to improve accordingly in order to counter Momota's style of play. Hard to believe that coaches in Japan are not doing the same thing. Maybe, they are I don't know. Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk
It is not only MS, but also WS. Yamaguchi may still be at the top of her game, but who is there to follow? Okuhara, I believe, will find it difficult to stage a comeback, given the long-standing and aggravated nature of her injury. I think that she is nearing a premature retirement. She hinted that her decision as to whether to go for Paris, or not, will be decided around the time of the World Championships this year. I would be surprised if she is able to regain her form until then. And then we have an aging Takahashi Sayaka, who can still put on a convincing show, but not consistently, and not usually against the very top. This leaves the fast-fading Takahashi Asuka, and Ohori Aya, who constantly come up short, and Gunji Riko, who, unfortunately, is not a Yamaguchi or Okuhara-in-the-making. All in all, if we are looking at the near future, WS is in even worse shape than MS. Yes, the coaches are over-extended, and have been in their jobs far too long. There really needs to be a shake-up. But Badminton Japan has other issues on its mind, not least, the rather grave problem of embezzlement of players' prize-money (and non-reporting of the crime), which I am sure will be consuming most of the executives' time at the moment. Personally, I think that, for any change to occur, Zeniya Kinji's head needs to roll, to be followed by the heads of certain members of the coaching staff.
