[Saba Sports News] Last week, the Japanese Badminton Association announced the member lists for the U19 and U17 youth national teams. According to the information, the U17 national team is a newly established category. Along with the previously announced U15 category for middle school students and the U13 category for elementary school students, the composition of the Japanese youth national badminton team is becoming more complete. Additionally, the All Japan High School Selection Tournament held in March will also serve as a selection opportunity, with champions from the second year of high school and finalists from the first year being added to the selection pool.
Regarding this reform, head coach Akiyama Kenichi explained the reasons during an interview. Akiyama stated that the plan is to allow several young players to compete not only in youth events but also to challenge in adult international competitions. The goal is to promote promising players from the youth national team to the next level in advance, addressing the decline in the overall strength of the Japanese badminton team.
The editor believes that the purpose of establishing the U17 national team is to address the lack of experience among first-year high school students. Players who were active during middle school often struggle to defeat older students in their first year of high school, resulting in lost opportunities to participate in national competitions. Consequently, it has been challenging to include first-year high school students in the selections for the BWF World Junior Championships and the Asian Junior Badminton Championships, leading to gaps in the development of the youth national team.