(cache) ALL JAPAN CORPORATE Champs

ALL JAPAN CORPORATE Champs – New Mixed in gold

The All Japan Corporate Championships held in Tokyo this past week saw all top players from National team and beyond fight for their companies. The new pair of Ikeda and Shiota was under the spotlight.

From our live correspondents in Japan, Taro Lennerfors, Miyuki Komiya. Photos: Miyuki Komiya (live)

September 11th saw the outcome of the “Zennihonshakaijintaikai” (All Japan Corporate Championships) with both semi-finals and finals played on the same day. After a short lunch break, the photographers started to appear one by one by the courts. There was excitement in the air. Everyone in the crowd knew what the appearance of the cameramen meant: Reiko Shiota was going to play.

After her bronze medal in women's doubles in the World Badminton Championships in 2007, she has gained popularity and increased her public exposure. The audience was waiting for her appearance in the mixed doubles finals. The very recently formed mixed doubles team with Ikeda Shintaro had advanced to the finals even though this tournament was their very first domestic outing together. Everybody was prepared, especially the cameramen. The opposing team, Hirata and Maeda, well-dressed in bright yellow outfits, had shown remarkable strength in recent years. In addition to reaching the semi-finals in women's doubles at the 2008 Olympics, Maeda also took 3rd place in mixed at the Asian Championships in 2007 with Hirata.

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After a shaky start from Shiota, Maeda and Hirata took the lead by scoring six consecutive points from 2-2 to 8-2. Shiota and Ikeda shaped up and at the break the score was 11-9 to Maeda and Hirata. Maeda and Hirata leading and then losing the advantage was something that the audience would see more of during the course of the game. The score of the first game was after the break very even until a key moment when the score was 18-18. Ikeda pushed a long shot towards the side. Maeda and Hirata were sure that the shot was out, but the umpire had another opinion. Even though Maeda and Hirata approached the umpire’s chair, her judgment was final. Shiota and Ikeda had taken the lead. In the next rally, Ikeda once again hit a long shot but this time it was clearly too long. The score-keepers changed the score to 19-19, but then Shiota went to the referee and explained that the shuttle touched Maeda's hair on its way across the court. And this time the umpire changed her opinion. Instead of 19-19, the score was 20-18 to Maeda and Hirata’s chagrin. Whether the end of these two rallies were correctly assessed or not was discussed amongst the spectators. But Maeda and Hirata did not seem overly disturbed, judging from the subsequent rallies. Instead they came back and after three quick points, the score was 21-20 to Maeda and Hirata but they failed to finish it up. After some remarkable rallies, Hirata pushed an easy shot out and the first game was over. The pairs changed sides, and all the photographers who were positioned by Shiota-san followed her to the other side of the court - It was not difficult to see who the star was.

The start of the second game was similar to the first. The yellow team took the lead up to 9-4. And once again, their lead was reduced to 9-8. At the break, Maeda and Hirata were up 11-9, but when they returned to the court, the duo had ups and downs, alternating unforced errors and with extraordinary winning rallies. Their confidence grew and they took the second game by 21-15.

The third game was very even until 5-5, when Maeda and Hirata scored four consecutive points. But the scenario from before repeated itself. Shiota and Ikeda were invited back into the game and in the pause, the score was 11-10 to Maeda and Hirata. After the pause, Shiota and Ikeda were now leading the game, with their opponents at their tails. When the score was 19-19, both teams were extremely motivated, to the joy of the cheering audience.

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Maeda and Hirata managed to earn a match point, but an unfortunate serve into the net evened the score at 20-all. The lead yellow pair took back the lead on an inspired service return; however, there was no surprise in the third game. Maeda and Hirata played very well until they had the lead in a crucial moment but they could not go on from there. A powerful smash by Ikeda evened the score at 21-21. Shiota then killed the next shuttle near the net and now turned the tables around, earning her team a match point. After severe pressure from the yellow side, Hirata unfortunately ended the rally – and the game - with an unforced error.

After the match, Hirata commented on the line calls: "Regarding the shot toward sideline, it clearly reached outside of the sideline. The linesman was on Ikeda/Shiota's side, so I wonder if he didn't clearly see it because of a net pole. I appealed to the umpire, but she didn't see the shot, unfortunately. So I gave up complaining. Regarding the shot over Maeda's head, we didn't know why the umpire changed her judgement after Shiota complained. She didn't think that the shuttle touched Maeda's hair. So she gave us a point. It means she didn't see it. Actually, we didn't think that the shuttle touched her. Who knows it? We were only suprised, rather than angry, at the judgment. REALLY just suprised."

For their first appearance in a major national tournament, Shiota and Ikeda did not disappoint. All eyes will be watching them during the upcoming Yonex Japan Open in a fortnight.

“They are not quite at the top level yet. They need to train, over and over again to improve. I want them to focus on training mainly,” said National Team Head Coach Park Joo Bong.

In other events, some big names saw gold as well. Shoji Sato came back from his new career as a double player to win the men’s singles, beating Jun Takemura, a former national team player, while Ai Goto, the tiny woman in form, beat compatriot Yu Hirayama.

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Full results :

MS: Shoji Sato beat Jun Takemura : 21-10, 21-19
WS: Ai Goto beat Yu Hirayama : 21-15, 21-15
MD: Kenichi Hayakawa / Kenta Kazuno beat Yoshiteru Hirobe / Hajime Komiyama
25-23, 21-17
WD: Satoko Suetsuna / Miyuki Maeda beat Megumi Taruno / Yui Hashimoto
21-11,21-13
MX: Shintaro Ikeda / Reiko Shiota beat Noriyasu Hirata / Miyuki Maeda
23-21,15-21,23-21

Official website HERE

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