Akane: A queen in the making

Dubai — Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi is the girl to look out for. Not only has she grown fast from her reputation of being a sheer retriever and a dangerous floater, the bubbly court personality is also on her way to greater things.

For every point missed or from an unforced error, she shakes her head, and looks up to the ceiling in sheer disappointment, like any school going girl of her age would. But beneath the normal teenage exterior and mannerisms, lies a fierce ‘samurai’ like warrior, ready to pounce on an opponent.

Akane and Shoji Sato (coach) make a great duo for they chalk out in a special way the strategies during the pre-match practice sessions both a day before and the one just minutes before walking on to the centre stage. “Everything is going fine with us now, one more win will mean a 3-0 record in Group B but the important thing is to go out and maintain the minimum level,” Sato said in a brief one sentence chat minutes before the Thursday night game.

The three-time consecutive finalist of the BWF world junior event where she won two golds in 2013 and 2014, the 17-year old Japanese prodigy is the first home bred winner of the Japan Open superseries event when she defeated another Japanese superstar, Shizuka Uchida in 2013.

Also, at the age of 16 months and three months she became the youngest player ever to win a Superseries leg — at the same Japanese qualifier of the 12-leg BWF World Superseries. “Today we have a situation when I am learning, only learning, I must say. There are so many things to know and learn before I can really match my seniors at home and on the world stage,” Akane said on Friday.