2021 All Japan National Championships

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

Harimoto has not performed well in these championships, but we mustn't forget he had a strong showing last month.

Its always a special tournament, which comes just after the New Year holidays, where there is a lot of pressure, Harimoto said he wasn't fit physically, as he could not recover well from the match with the chopper. He played 3 times on that day as well.

[thomas.pong]

Harimoto has not performed well in these championships, but we mustn't forget he had a strong showing last month.

Its always a special tournament, which comes just after the New Year holidays, where there is a lot of pressure, Harimoto said he wasn't fit physically, as he could not recover well from the match with the chopper. He played 3 times on that day as well.

On top of that, he lost to the winner of the competition Oikawa who was in fine form throughout, beating most of the JNT on his way to the title.

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

and Oikawa is his training partner, its always a special encounter

i can beat some of teammates which are stronger players than me, and I'm beating them much more often than i should given the difference in level. because we know each other. We can see the real difference when i keep losing all the guys that i beat easily but there are no guys that i beat that they can't beat.

[zeio]

I wouldn't count this one much just as I don't count Ishikawa's win much. Harimoto is still recovering from his lower back pain.

I've been keeping tabs on the Japanese sports news and in various interviews of swimmers and badminton players, they all mention they could peak once or twice a year. For Harimoto, he peaked 2 months ago in China. The other peak is probably saved for Olympics. Tokyo 2020 getting postponed was really disruptive to them as they were peaking for it, even more so on the psychological level. Harimoto, Ito and Hayata have mentioned during this All-Japan that they need real competitions to peak, not some half-assed leagues, and there will be next to none in the next few months. Expect to see a lackluster games this year, though we have more and more news/rumors from IOC that it'll be canceled. Nikkan Gendai reports February will be the deadline for IOC to call it off. Close to half of the Olympic quota have yet to be determined, with just 6 months to go. I don't know how they could proceed with the games. Just look at Australian Open. *bleep* disaster.

https://www.nikkan-gendai.com/articl.../sports/283727
東京五輪「中止」正式決定へ“秒読み”…デッドラインは2月の組織委・IOCの進捗確認

https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQ...W1A110C2000000
https://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2021011600351&g=spo
https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/80267
https://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/2...480001-n1.html

[Konrad Bak]

"Their table tennis is different."
~ Koki Niwa

https://rallys.online/topic/alljapan/210116niwakoki/


Behind the young players in technique, Niwa switched to tacky rubber on BH in this tournament to strengthen the spin on his chiquita and pushes. It worked well in training but he couldn't handle Tanaka's chiquita. The point at 9-8 would've gone differently if he could rely on his BH. He'll work on his BH after this to gain back confidence in major tournaments.

Lol Tanaka didnt open with his Chiquita too much but your comment show like Tanaka open every Niwa serve... Koki lost space, lost placement and it is easy to understand that if you don't put heavy rotation from forehand side and you only play fast bullet shot all the time, you will be easy target for guys who can play from longer distance. Tanaka backhand was on fire, the angle that he create was too much.
It is easy to fix Niwa equipment and playstyle for more successful but he probably thinks that he knows better what is good for him like every EJ.
I understand that you make short summarize what he said here, because I can translate it too, but Koki should back to arylate blade because definitely his power is too fast for him and lack of spin is too easy for opponents because they want to play open game with him. His the biggest advantage was hard to understand tough low-short play.