Thread about Japanese Players

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Miku Matsushima also won the U19 event at the WTT Youth Contender Vientiane. Cocona Muramatsu reached the final.

Screenshot 2026-08-03 at 5.38.46.png
 
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I wonder what the main bottleneck is for Miu Hirano. To me she always seems like she is close to a breakthrough and getting back to being a top10 player, but she never quite gets there.

One of my favourite players to watch, would love to see her make a few deeper runs in WTT events.
 
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I wonder what the main bottleneck is for Miu Hirano. To me she always seems like she is close to a breakthrough and getting back to being a top10 player, but she never quite gets there.

One of my favourite players to watch, would love to see her make a few deeper runs in WTT events.
Hirano has been going it alone without a coach since 9/2024. It was also reported that Kinoshita Abyell was in financial trouble. With Hirano being on the reserve team, that means she has to play international tournaments at her own expense, and her decision to transfer to Kyushu Carina implies that she was not the top priority of Abyell, not unlike the case for Kihara who transferred to Top Nagoya.
 
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Hirano has a wealth of experience and has had high level pro coaches in the past such as Rui Nakazawa and Zhang Cheng. Both Mima and Hina have gone without coaches before especially Mima for years after her break with coach Matsuzaki. Ultimately, it is Miu's choice whether or not she wants to get a coach or not. But the road to the Olympics(if that is a goal of hers) at this point would be extremely difficult as there are 10 Japanese women ranked higher than her. NER limit for Smash tournaments is 6 and 4 for Champions tournaments.
 
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Congratulations to Kaho Akae, double crown (WS/WD) winner at 2026 WTT Feeder Vientiane. Kaho has won 6 Feeder titles in the past 12 months. On Mondays update, she will have the same ranking points as MIyuu Kihara.
 
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When the world ranking will be released on Monday, there will be some reshuffling in the top 10 (assuming my calculations are correct):

(1) WCQ
(2) F. Lebrun
(3) Matsushima
(4) Harimoto
(5) Moregard
(6) LYJ
(7) Calderano
(8) A. Lebrun
(9) LSD
(10 JWJ

EDIT: I forgot that the points from the Europe Smash last year will expire on 24 August, so the ranking above should be correct on 24 August.
 
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With Miwa quite overworked and Sora clearly not keen on XD, are there other pairings possible? Tomo has made it clear he won't play unless with Miwa. Has Odo/Shinozuka ever been tried? Ofc there's Togami/Hayata but I imagine Hayata would likely play WS and WD already so...
 
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With Miwa quite overworked and Sora clearly not keen on XD, are there other pairings possible? Tomo has made it clear he won't play unless with Miwa. Has Odo/Shinozuka ever been tried? Ofc there's Togami/Hayata but I imagine Hayata would likely play WS and WD already so...
Ito/Shinozuka to save the day at Aichi-Nagoya 2026?

Why have I been crying about the lack of team unity?
 
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Ito/Shinozuka to save the day at Aichi-Nagoya 2026?

Why have I been crying about the lack of team unity?
I actually really enjoy Ito/Shinozuka. Ito's clearly happier playing with her ikemen kouhai than with Mizutani-senpai :LOL: No hugs even during gold medal
 
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Hina/Miwa are ranked #1 in women's doubles. Satsuki has two top 10 doubles pairings: #5 with Yokoi and #8 with Miwa. Hina and Satsuki are playing their cards right. If they don't get the LA2028 #2 spot, they both have exceptional doubles credentials.

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Hina/Miwa are ranked #1 in women's doubles. Satsuki has two top 10 doubles pairings: #5 with Yokoi and #8 with Miwa. Hina and Satsuki are playing their cards right. If they don't get the LA2028 #2 spot, they both have exceptional doubles credentials.

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