2021 All Japan National Championships

A minute of silence for Sato who managed to take a game.

It might not be a bad idea for Japan to just call off Tokyo 2020+1 after this?

Niwa: 2nd title in the bag! NOT!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIo0WCq17Z8

no after winning his 10th crown Mizutani announced his retirement from this competition 2 years ago. He ended on the best possible note.

although he played in doubles last year but he was knocked out early.

Many matches on this YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4y...6msElzfTFs1jaQ



HARIMOTO - OIKAWA (1/4)




【張本智和 vs 及川瑞基】1月16日 全日本卓球 男子シングルス 準々決勝! 及川、粘り強いラリー力で五輪代表・張本を下す金星...Tomokazu Harimoto



NIWA - TANAKA (1/4)





【田中佑汰 vs 丹羽孝希】1月16日 全日本卓球 男子シングルス 準々決勝! 田中が高速ラリー対決を制す...Koki Niwa



MORIZONO - AIDA (1/4)





【森薗政崇 vs 英田理志】1月16日 全日本卓球 男子シングルス 準々決勝! 森薗政崇 3年ぶりのベスト4進出...Masataka Morizono



YOSHIDA Masaki - RYUSAKI (1/4)





【????田雅己 vs 龍崎東寅】1月16日 全日本卓球 男子シングルス 準々決勝! ...YOSHIDA Masaki



KIHARA - TAIRA Yurika (1/4)





【木原美悠 vs 平侑里香】1月16日 全日本卓球 女子シングルス 準々決勝! 明日は石川佳純と準決勝！Miyuu Kihara



ISHIKAWA - YOKOI (1/4)





【石川佳純 vs 横井咲桜】1月16日 全日本卓球 女子シングルス 準々決勝! 石川、ジュニア2位の若手を退けて準決勝へKasumi Ishikawa



ITO - NAGASAKI (1/4)





【伊藤美誠 vs 長崎美柚】1月16日 全日本卓球 女子シングルス 準々決勝! 王座奪還まであと2つ...Mima Ito



HAYATA - SATO (1/4)




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO2yDTPO9Ug

he is using a Mizutani ZLC blade + D80 max on both FH and BH

try this link tomorrow daytime in Japan
http://live.jtta.or.jp/watch/11999

not sure it will work but please try

yeh for Japan, silver for Women's Team, and Gold or Silver in Mixed Doubles (ITO / MIZUTANI) is the most optimistic+realistic outcome

although one can't really blame Harimoto. He's played really well last month in China. He said he was tired which I believe. He's only a kid, and he's studying hard besides just training.

Oikawa is a regular training partner, they play in the same T-League team, so that match had a special flavour. We all beat regularly a team-mate which is stronger than us, and we really shouldn't but we play with him all the time, we know his serves, receives, tactics, what he doesn't like etc...

Also, Oikawa has been playing many matches in T-League recently, he really is in good form. He's not a nobody.

So, i'm not overly worried for Harimoto. I'm more worried for Niwa. The end of the road for him in JNT is approaching fast.

---
regarding world team events,
there are many teams i can feel can beat Japan apart from China: Germany, Korea, Taipei, England, Sweden, France notably but they can still beat all those teams.
Boll is getting old, in what form will he be ? LSS level is going down, CCY as well, Pitchford is strong but how about his mates ? etc.....

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/202...818321000.html
https://www.daily.co.jp/general/2021...14010283.shtml
https://hochi.news/articles/20210116-OHT1T50139.html
Harimoto says the fatigue was so severe after the previous match he couldn't get a solid footing from beginning to end. The first point of that match was a long rally. He lost that crucial one and it set the tone for the rest of the match. Because his shots lacked power, Oikawa could attack very well. Rather than regret, he didn't even have any strength left for emotional expression. Going into the next match after a long match will be the next topic to work on.

Niwa says blowing the lead in G5 proved fatal. Tanaka's BH was very strong and defense was very good and so he always came up short in rallies. He was not tough enough to keep up.

https://www.tokyo-sports.co.jp/sport...ennis/2629197/
Ito says Hayata has very high shot quality and is very strong in rallies and so wants to avoid that. She is stoked and can't wait to meet her. Serve and receive are important but she still wants to come out on top in rallies.

Hayata, OTOH, says she wishes both players could play at 100% and that will be enough. Ito is a player she respects and so will play to her best and enjoys the semifinal to the fullest.

When asked how they will spend the night, Ito says she wants to get a 10-hour sleep. Hayata will spend it slowly on Youtube, music...

Originally Posted by Takkyu_wa_inochi

yeh for Japan, silver for Women's Team, and Gold or Silver in Mixed Doubles (ITO / MIZUTANI) is the most optimistic+realistic outcome...
---
regarding world team events,
there are many teams i can feel can beat Japan apart from China: Germany, Korea, Taipei, England, Sweden, France notably but they can still beat all those teams.
Boll is getting old, in what form will he be ? LSS level is going down, CCY as well, Pitchford is strong but how about his mates ? etc.....

When Harimoto lost, you know what's in my heart? Homura. Still, he should have a fair chance in singles just because of the 2 per NOC limit(less players to look out for), but for team event the outlook is really grim.

Had Tokyo 2020 been held on time, Boll would've been pushed around in SINGLES, AGAIN, 99% certain. Just not the type of player who gets it done in SINGLES when it counts. He has the habit of getting injured/losing form before the majors even during his prime. WTTC 2007, Beijing 2008, WTTC 2009(didn't even attend due to injury), London 2012... Yet, he is a different animal in TEAM event. Don't count him out. It took a once-in-a-lifetime-XX-beating Mizutani to take him out at Rio 2016, when Boll was yet again injured.

Always assume South Korea as the dark horse when it counts. JYS will carry the team.

Brazil is another one to watch for. They did really well at WTTC 2018. Decent doubles pair.

Sweden, France, Croatia, Portugal, Slovenia, Hong Kong and Egypt in that order will all be difficult because of the doubles.

Taipei is an unknown with the doubles dilemma(LYJ and CCA both left-handed) as Japan. Who knows what will happen if they meet.

England didn't even get invited for the team event.

yeh all those teams are tough for Japan, but I think Japan has a decent chance against everyone of them.

As for Boll, well in the last team event, it was Team World Cup in Tokyo, he lost 0-3 to Maharu YOSHIMURA.
it was a minor event, more like a warm-up event for the Olympics, still the ITTF was pretty serious about that one... was he injured ? i looked at the match and i thought he couldn't lose to YOSHIMURA if he was in his usual form but on that day, BOLL was gracious and didn't complain and perhaps , there is something about YOSHIMURA (his serves ?) that he can't deal with ?


---


MIZUTANI commented on TV:

- HARIMOTO lost because he played too passively. He is lacking the experience about how he needs to play and this defeat will serve him in future events.

- ITO willingly didn't show her best against NAGASAKI (!!!) . Notably she didn't use her best serves because NAGASAKI just like HAYATA is left handed, and she didn't want HAYATA to study those serves before the match.