Wait, you mean that the fact that she was ranked lower than others had nothing to do with her play? She just magically lacked the opportunities that others like Kihara and even Harimoto magically found? IT is easy to forget her subpar performances in Japanese tournaments prior to the Olympic qualifying tournaments out of convenience.
Maybe this is good for marketing the event to gamblers? Lol...you never know what WTT is up to!
Man, how many times have I read this reasoning? Hirano gave up on WS to focus on WD for Tokyo 2020 and she has been stuck in the top 20 for the entire Paris 2024 cycle.
QTY also lost multiple matches that led to her being explicitly denied chances. So no one would argue that she is better than anyone ahead of her getting opportunities (but maybe you and Tieba users might). Miu Hirano would have have a hard time arguing that the reason she is being denied opportunities is that her teammates are better than her. The PDR is not a sufficient explanation.
Felix vs Sora will be either a 3-0 sweep to either one or a 3-2 match
It might sound cruel, but if you're one of the top 2 Japanese women, you just can't be losing to players like Lily(@SC Bangkok) and Bruna (@Tunis) who are good players but not nearly as complete players as Hirano. Those points she could have gotten had she won would have put her into a seeded position here in Singapore. And regrettably, she lost to Pyon Song Gyong at the Asian Games (a loss not only in ranking point opportunities, but which added more pressure at the next Paris trial). She also had the misfortune of meeting Miwa in the 1st round at WTT Champions Frankfurt. I guess we can forgive her for that one given the caliber of player Miwa is. But note that Hayata beat Miwa in the very next round. I feel for Hirano. I really do. It is tough managing WTT tournaments and the Paris trials. She's capable of beating anyone including Hayata, but she's sure made it tough on herself trying to climb the ranking points hill.
Then you are missing out here. WYD, nicknamed 皇迪/royal Di or privileged Di now, has lost the most against non-teammates, 7 times in this cycle, 5 of which to JNT players. Tieba users have been bashing WYD for months before WTTC 2024. CXT isn't all that better either, especially after putting WMY in the current situation by blocking her multiple times.
Hirano actually remained unbeaten against non-CNT players and non-teammates longer than Hayata and Ito. Hirano started losing only in 2023 when she had to raise her world ranking while keeping up with the selection trials and T. League season, which proved very difficult and something Hayata experienced in the Tokyo 2020 cycle where she traveled all over the world to take part in Challenge Series to make up for poor seeding in World Tour.
Losses vs non-CNT players and non-teammates for Paris 2024 cycle:
Kihara: 1
WTT CT Lima 2023 | SF | Kihara 2-3 Szocs (Kihara had the lead and game point in G4)
Ito: 2
WTT CS Macao 2023 | R16 | 1-3 CIC
Singapore Smash 2022 | R16 | 1-3 Yuan Jia Nan
Hayata: 3
Singapore Smash 2023 | R32 | 2-3 S. Sawettabut
WTT SCT Goa 2023 | R32 | 1-3 CIC
Asian Cup 2022 | 3rd-4th | 2-4 Batra
Hirano: 4 + 1 forfeit due to leg cramp
Asian Games 2022 | R16 | 2-4 Pyon Songgyong
WTT CT Lima 2023 | R16 | 0-3 Pavade (forfeit during G2)
WTT CT Tunis 2023 | QF | 1-3 B. Takahashi
WTT SCT Bangkok 2023 | R16 | 0-3 Lily Zhang
WTT SCT Goa 2023 | R16 | 2-3 CIC (Hirano up 2-0)
Harimoto: 6
Nagasaki: 9
Before ATTC 2023 and Asian Games 2022:
http://mytabletennis.net/FORUM/forum_posts.asp?TID=91479&PID=1144117
Cruel? Is that a joke? In that case, as some Tieba users have argued, Kihara and Ito should be the top 2 here. Care to tell me Kihara's latest WR? She has lost ONLY ONCE to non-CNT players and non-teammates, Szocs to be specific (Kihara had the lead and game point in G4). Other than Hirano and Akula, she is the other one to have beaten WYD 3-0.
A player's ranking is what it is. Looking at Kihara's history the past year, it looks like she either lost in the early rounds to CNT players or got tripped up by her bestie Nagasaki (twice) so the sample size is not great.
But she had all the same opportunities as her teammates. It is simply finding special excuses when there is no reason she could not have done what Hayata did.
Sample size is relevant in most situations. It's really easy to create narratives with a small number of results. Those narratives just won't be very reliable. Sorry if math gets in the way of your feelings, brother.
It makes perfect sense, using hidden statistics with limited predictive power to make arguments will work only so long. No one other than yourself and maybe Tieba users thought trailing in win rate was more important than actually being dominant both in Japan and on tour. And ultimately, China will figure out how to select the players it wants to play. Hayata was just as capable of burnout as everyone else, she played a lot of table tennis. It is interesting now that Hirano is being given thr PDR excuse. CiC is not in the same class as these players, though I know you would like to place her there. Sawetabutt, I can understand, but one can also watch the losses and decide whether that is the way a superior player tends to lose.
