How are Japan’s possibilities within the dwelling staff’s strongest self-discipline going into the Tokyo Olympics? Can Hirota and Fukushima rise to the largest event of their profession?
By Don Hearn. Pictures: Badmintonphoto
Getting into the Olympic ladies’s doubles competitors with the primary and third seeds belies Japan’s dominance on this self-discipline over the previous few years. With over two dozen Superseries or equal titles, two World Championships, and Asian Video games silver all since Matsutomo and Takahashi gained gold in Rio, the Japanese podium success is near rivalling China’s on the top of its ladies’s doubles energy. In early 2019, Japan accounted for half the pairs on the earth’s high ten.
Retirements and the Olympic qualifying guidelines have whittled that dominance right down to the purpose the place, in fact, Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota (pictured beneath) and Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara must preserve Japan’s dwelling on high quality, not amount. In reality, it was Korea that had 4 high ten pairs when Olympic qualifying ended they usually, together with China, can even be fielding two pairs every in Tokyo, all six being sturdy contenders for the gold.
Of the 2 Japanese pairs, third-seeded Matsumoto and Nagahara have the extra prestigious trophy case however on paper, in addition they seem like the extra susceptible. A key statistic is their shedding information towards each Chinese language and each Korean pairs. It’s value noting that they had been spared an encounter with a high Korean or Chinese language pair in each of their profitable World Championship campaigns.
That’s not to say that an unfavourable quarter-final draw will essentially torpedo the reigning All England champions’ possibilities. There isn’t any one they can not beat, they’re enjoying with a (granted, crowd-less) dwelling court docket benefit, they usually have a confirmed monitor file of peaking for the massive occasions.
Turning silver into gold?
The final time we had a serious summer season badminton championship, P. V. Sindhu was capable of take the final step up the rostrum after settling for silver at one Olympics, two World Championships, and the Asian Video games. However in ladies’s doubles, Fukushima and Hirota have had an equally tantalizing string of runner-up finishes as Sindhu had. They’ve misplaced three consecutive World Championship finals, got here up quick on the World Tour Finals, and took bronze on the Asian Video games once they misplaced to the eventual winners.
The world #1 pair is each inch the gold medal favorite. Fukushima and Hirota have successful information towards each visiting pair and crucially, haven’t skilled the issues that Matsumoto and Nagahara have with the Korean and Chinese language pairs. They could not have a World Championship title but it surely was they who featured within the greatest finals in three consecutive post-Rio summers.
The challengers from near dwelling
The largest threats clearly come from Korean and Chinese language pairs. It is going to be fascinating to see how the rivalries develop after such a very long time aside. The Chinese language haven’t performed internationally since Du Yue and Li Yinhui misplaced to Fukushima/Hirota within the 2020 All England remaining. Each the Japanese and Koreans have seen worldwide motion since then however by no means on the identical tournaments.
Lee So Hee and Shin Seung Chan are the higher-ranked of the Korean pairs they usually’ve been enjoying collectively the longest however in addition they have dismal information towards just about all the highest pairs however the two-time defending champions. They must carry their A recreation or strive one thing new as a result of no luck of the draw can get them a medal for beating solely pairs they have already got an edge over.
Group draw might current some snags
One of the essential group levels might be the one in Group D. Asian Video games gold medallists Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan are favoured to take the group however not one of the pairs is undefeated towards multiple of their 3 potential opponents. Chen and Jia have been crushed by each the Koreans and the Bulgarians and Kong Hee Yong / Kim So Yeong have had their troubles with the Thais and the Chinese language however by no means the European sisters.
In reality, it is extremely tough to foretell, with any certainty, the quarter-finalists from any of the teams. Fukushima and Hirota will virtually actually emerge atop Group A however Greysia Polii / Apriyani Rahayu (pictured proper) can beat anybody on day and, together with the six northeast Asian pairs, are clearly among the many strongest contenders to finally take the gold. The Indonesians, nonetheless, have misplaced their final two encounters to Malaysia’s Chow/Lee and the Malaysians misplaced their solely assembly with Birch/Smith.
Group C is sophisticated by the truth that Du/Li of China are undefeated versus #4 seeds Lee/Shin however are 1-1 towards Denmark’s Maiken Fruergaard / Sara Thygesen. Add to that the truth that Somerville/Mapasa of Australia have by no means performed one in every of these three pairs and it’s not really easy to name it for the 2 high ten pairs.
There isn’t any doubt that the two-time World Champions will reign supreme in Group B. However the second quarter-finalist is more durable to foretell. Canada’s Rachel Honderich / Kristen Tsai (pictured left) simply occur to have been drawn in the identical group with the one higher-ranked pair to whom they’re undefeated However Selena Piek / Cheryl Seinen have additionally crushed Matsumoto/Nagahara so a 3-way tie on the high of the group can’t merely be dominated out.
Apparently, Group B is the one one with two gamers who’re additionally enjoying combined doubles. Selena Piek is doing double responsibility, however Egypt’s Doha Hany is definitely on triple responsibility, as she can even be dealing with Chen Yufei and Neslihan Yigit within the singles competitors. The opposite two combined gamers are Gronya Somerville in Group C and Lauren Smith in Group A.
Click on on the above desk to see a model with hyperlinks to detailed head-to-head outcomes. Cels shaded in inexperienced denote match-ups that may happen within the spherical robin stage.
