NANNING, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Winning the Sudirman Cup would give Japan more confidence in next year's Tokyo Olympics. Japan's badminton head coach Park Joo Bong says on the press conference Saturday.
In the 2019 badminton Asian Championships held in Wuhan, China last month, Japan won three gold medals in the women's singles, men's singles and men's doubles against China. The two have a great chance to meet again in the 2019 Sudirman Cup which will held from May 19 to 26 in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Japan has won the Thomas Cup and the Uber Cup, but never won Sudirman Cup before. Now Japan is keen to win it to achieve the Grand Slam of the three major international badminton tournaments.
Japan head coach Park Joo Bong admitted that it is not easy to win the championship, he mentioned that in the 2015 Sudirman Cup final and 2017 Sudirman Cup semifinal Japan was edged out by China.
"China has always been a strong team, especially this tournament as the host, it is not easy for Japan to win the championship", Park Joo Bong said.
On the press conference, Japan's shuttler Yuta Watanabe expressed optimistic about the prospect of winning the tournament.
"As the No. 1 seed team of this year's Sudirman Cup, Japan has the greatest chance of winning the championship, the entire team is full of confidence," said Yuta Watanabe.
Tokyo will host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. "If Japan wins the tournament, it will greatly strengthen Japan's confidence for next year's Olympic badminton games," Park Joo Bong said.
