its not uncommon to mix up placements to give some form of surprise to opponents planned strategy.
She is just a nervous wreck - she is capable of much better.
Exactly, that is the proper way to introduce new players to international competition, this is hazing, especially after the competitive nature of the first match. But it takes experiences like this for a coach to learn, he hasn't had this level of risk before against teams not named China.
i didn't doubt a single second of Mima winning this match...
Watch DHS make him a new signature blade, the W32.
Assuming Watanabe is not a mascot, another possibility could be that he never planned to field Odo, but then something wrong happened to Hirano during the QF against SGP that forced him to go with Odo. We'll find out tonight.
That's the reliability that senior players bring, but it only becomes obvious when a greener player who can't handle the pressure steps up. Everyone in the comments was saying that they felt assured with Ito on court too.
Doesn't explain why they played Odo in position 2 and not 3.
Against China, there is zero risk, anyone can play, and I think Odo deserves a chance in that scenario since the score doesn't really matter - Odo freezing against the tricky game of Batra is very different.
3rd singles is actually more important than 2nd singles despite being only 1 match since it's static for both ABC/XYZ teams. When the match score is 1-1, the 3rd match becomes the pivot point that tips the scale. That's another reason you want to be the ABC team. Watanabe explained that's the role Hirano played at WTTC 2024, in case Miwa crashed in her match.
