2019 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals

Brs said:

The JNT has made a horrible mistake with this no-judgement, mechanical selection process. It goes beyond not having the best team in Tokyo 2020. It's increasingly obvious that their best players are under so much pressure that they aren't playing up to their capabilities and are miserable doing it. If they cause MH to retire early the JNT will have well and truly ****ed themselves for no good reason. If you want an answer as to why the CNT will continue to dominate forever look know further than an intelligent attitude towards player development.

Click to expand...

Sali said:

As far as I know there is only 1 doubles event at olympics meaning mix.
FZD - are you joking? Having worst year in his career? It would be like picking up niwa over harimoto.
XX is great player and Has the best year in his career.
Still if this is true I would change nationality if I were XX

Click to expand...

Hysteresis said:

I don't necessarily think Xu Xin would be against playing both doubles and singles in Olympics. A doubles gold is not nothing, an Olympic gold is still an Olympic gold and still very much worth having. He might be perfectly happy to play doubles, teams and singles if Ma Long is injured.

I don't think FZD having the worst year in his career is particularly relevant tbh. There is nothing particularly special about this year, and he's had a more successful several years than XX and a more sucessful last couple of months. The early part of this year is just about the only time where XX has been doing better than FZD this Olympic cycle. To say FZD's position for Olympics singles is a joke based on just this year, seems to be very cherry picked.

The CNT also don't particularly care about your world tour results (outside of what it might say about how well you are playing in general) and tend to focus on big event performance. While FZD's slump lost him a realistic chance at the World Championships this year, he has got the World Cup, and XX got neither of those things (he did pick up the continental championships though).

The fact is that FZD is both the overall more achieved player this Olympic cycle (1 asian championship, 2 world cups, compared to just 1 asian championships for XX, neither have WTTC singles) as well as the player in better form RIGHT NOW. it's nothing like picking Niwa over Harimoto (which wouldn't happen anyway).

While I agree XX is a great player, the only real arguments he had (or has) for Olympics singles were if FZD continued to be in terrible form (you probably wouldn't want to send out someone playing that poorly regardless of achievements), or if Ma Long was injured. Those two players are simply more proven in big stakes situations than he is. All these two players have to do is not be in a horrible slump, which FZD has now snapped out of, and not be injured, which Ma Long we are unsure of still.

On the other hand, he is pretty much the undisputed best male doubles player in the world. So being pegged to carry doubles makes a lot of sense.

Click to expand...

Sali said:

Yes there are some good points. But there is alway but
FZD even in great form always struggled in finals with Ma Long (even out of form) and most of them lost. Now he is back on truck but remember few months ago he lost to franziska nad Jung yungsik. That time many players found he has big middle problems and they kept playing to his middle and then corners.
Let's look at the world tour standings:
XX has 2044 points while FZD only 1507, it is a big gap. If Ma Long wasn't injured and played more he would definitely had more points then FZD.
I do remember XX lost to Gauzy - but this match was something what I can watch again and again. Simon played exceptionaly well and XX wasn't prepare for such fight. Anyway it was quite long ago and since then XX proved more then necessary his ability to beat all top players.
Last but not least XX is getting old and it will be probably his last Olympics and he really deserves singles spot as well as LSW.

Click to expand...

Vlad Celler said:

In principle, JNT still has time to change the selection rules .....
( I just can’t understand why it was necessary to play a couple of Hirano-Shibata this year? Meaning?)

Click to expand...

Hysteresis said:

The problem with most of these is these are not how CNT select their Olympic players.

They don't care if you can or can't beat the other CNT player, so long as you are both in the finals the coach's job is done.

FZD has always had a big middle, during the peak of his slump, his reaction speed was slugglish and his footwork was just... lazy. So he couldn't get out of the way fast enough to create space for his shots. Now that he's out of his slump, his speed is as fast, if not faster than ever, and his midddle is no longer relevant.

And as previously stated, the CNT don't really care about your world tour performance that much (unless you are losing to non CNT A team members a lot, that would become a problem).

While I agree it's a shame if XX never gets an Olympics single spot, the CNT simply doesn't select based on sentiment. That said, both LSW and XX have a chance for Olympic single spots this time, as DN is in such bad form that the CNT must be worried. And Ma Long's body appears to be giving out, he simply might not be fit for the olympics.

I think LSW's chances are better than XX's, but both I think are still chances. XX I think, is more likely to take Ma Long's spot than FZD's though.

Click to expand...

Tempest/Comet said:

Respectfully I disagree. You cannot move the goal post and change the rules once the competition began. Not after it was announced to the world and the race is on. This is what playing fair is all about.
Following your reasoning, the Hirano-Shibata may be a foil to keep Hayata away, just as the dismantling of the Ito-Hayata combo after April. With Hayata in the picture, it would gum up JTTA’s preconceived plans. A conspiracy theory I don’t quite subscribe.
Either way, the Ishikawa-Hirano race was open, transparent, with both losing precious opportunities in what appeared to be a continued series of comedies of error. Myself, I think the turning point was Ishikawa gaining entry to the first T2 and thereby 400 more points, and Hirano inexplicably losing both in WWC to Zhang and Jeon in T2.
But both Ishikawa & Hirano are near their breaking points because of the large number of games played, without satisfactory results and mental pressure. That much is evident to me.

In the end, it came down to Markham, and half a year of stumbles against what the world has to offer ended with a head to head fight for the spot. Hirano actually played very well, but Ishikawa was fighting for her life, a chance for her last Olympic, on home soil yet. The experience won out.
I see Tokyo is an opportunity to gain a WS medal in Ito. I can’t see Japan getting even a Silver in Team, not with Ishikawa and Hirano in it.
As for Hayata, I hope she keeps building herself up for 2024. She’s not ready for the harsh realities of Tokyo yet, and it’s better for her development not to take a fall/hit, and be tarnished for Japan’s Team failings.
Now the race for the ‘P’ card begins.

Click to expand...

Takkyu_wa_inochi said:

I think silver is almost a given for Japan in WT. What other team than China can beat them ? as #2 seeds they should play only China in the finals.

The best non - CNT players are CIC, FTW and DHK , their recent H-to-H favour the Japanese, they can win some matches but i think their teammates are way below and the Japanese have some margin against those teams. the best non-asian team is Romania and they beat them easily at WTC. They really cruised to the final.

Of course for Gold, their chance to win is about 1%. Someone very optimistic but realistic would say 5%. So not 0% but it would be a big big surprise.

Click to expand...

Sali said:

Could be, but how you can explain last olympics. They chose LXX and ZJK both not at their best.
As I remember they said anyone can go if win a tournament (I think it was Asian championships). LSW lost to Hong Kong player and lost her chances. LXX won the tournament and hot the ticket. Second ticket was to be given directly from ctta.

Click to expand...

NextLevel said:

Guys, Xu Xin had one of the best draws possible at the WTTC. What did he do? Lose to Gauzy.

You don't come back from that unless no one else is better than you. Fan boys need to remember that.

Click to expand...

Takkyu_wa_inochi said:

I think silver is almost a given for Japan in WT. What other team than China can beat them ? as #2 seeds they should play only China in the finals.

The best non - CNT players are CIC, FTW and DHK , their recent H-to-H favour the Japanese, they can win some matches but i think their teammates are way below and the Japanese have some margin against those teams. the best non-asian team is Romania and they beat them easily at WTC. They really cruised to the final.

Of course for Gold, their chance to win is about 1%. Someone very optimistic but realistic would say 5%. So not 0% but it would be a big big surprise.

Click to expand...

Takkyu_wa_inochi said:

I think silver is almost a given for Japan in WT. What other team than China can beat them ? as #2 seeds they should play only China in the finals.

The best non - CNT players are CIC, FTW and DHK , their recent H-to-H favour the Japanese, they can win some matches but i think their teammates are way below and the Japanese have some margin against those teams. the best non-asian team is Romania and they beat them easily at WTC. They really cruised to the final.

Of course for Gold, their chance to win is about 1%. Someone very optimistic but realistic would say 5%. So not 0% but it would be a big big surprise.

Click to expand...

Janard said:

South Korea?

Click to expand...

Janard said:

South Korea?

Click to expand...