2009 NHK Trophy

2009 NHK Trophy
11/05/2009 -11/08/2009 - Nagano, Japan

Announcement from ISU
http://isu.sportcentric.net/db//files/serve.php?id=1493

Announcement from JFS
http://www.skatingjapan.or.jp/image_data/fck/file/2009_Figure/09nhk_trophy_summary_information.pdf
Japanese TV programs NHK On Air Schedule
http://www.nhk.or.jp/sports2/winter/winter.html

Schedule: Japan Time

1)11/06/2009(FRI)
14:00～Opening Ceremorny
14:30～Compulsory Dance
15:45～Pairs Short Program
17:10～Men's Short Program
19:05～Ladies Short Program
20:48～Original Dance

2)11/07/2009(SAT)　
12:45～Original Dance
14:15～Pairs Free Skate
15:55～Men's Free Program
18:00～Commendation Ceremony for Pair and Men
18:50～Ladies Free Program
20:45～Commendation Ceremony for Ladies

3)11/08/2008(SUN)
13:00～Free Dance
14:45～Commendation Ceremony for Ice Dance
16:00～Exhibition

-Members
1. Daisuke Takahashi(JPN)
2. Takahiko kozuka (JPN)
3. Daisuke Muakami (JPN)
4. Vaughn Chiper (CAN)
5. Jeremy Ten (CAN)
6. Michal Brezina (CZE)
7. Brian Joubert (FRA)
8. Artem Borodulin (RUS)
9. Kristoffer Berntsson (SWE)
10. Jeremy Abbott (USA)
11. Adam Rippon (USA)
12. Johnny Weir (USA)

According to Daisuke's latest TV asahi interview of Oct. 22nd, 2009, he said "I'm currently practicing a quad in my program. I think it goes everything fine."

Here is NHK Trophy Official site.
And it will be updated Daisuke and Miki's interview vids.
http://www.nhk.or.jp/figure2009/

And also you can see all competitors' vids during the competition.
http://www.nhk.or.jp/figure2009/figure2/index.html

I can't wait to see!!

Thanks, Leode!

Ohhhhhh, it's only five days to go......
I Just hope Dai-chan can enjoy the competition and have good experience there!!

BTW, are you going to Ngano, Leode?

I can't wait!

BTW, can you watch the competition live from the NHK On Demand website? Or do they only put up the videos after the competition?

I hope Daisuke stays calm and shows the best of his skating there.

HI:
I am flying to Japan tomorrow!!
I could not get NHK cup ticket, but I can hardly wait for Friday.

Do Japanese people(I am one of them, but I live in US so long)have a NHK cup viewing party which is open to public?

In US, we have a lot of parties for other sports and presidential debate and so on.

I will be in ShinJuku area, please let me know if anybody have info re; viewing party.

Thanks!!!

Hi Genki!

Genki wrote:

Do Japanese people(I am one of them, but I live in US so long)have a NHK cup viewing party which is open to public?

Are you on holiday?
I'm sorry I don't know whether there is such an event....

Dai-chan's interview is up on NHK site.
http://www.nhk.or.jp/figure2009/interviews/interviews.html

GO DAI-CHAN!!!

miyu wrote:

BTW, are you going to Nagano, Leode?

Unfortunately, I cannot go to Nagano this time due to my work, but we will support with Daisuke anywhere he goes.

Calliope wrote:

BTW, can you watch the competition live from the NHK On Demand website? Or do they only put up the videos after the competition?

Maybe, Calliope, they only put up the videos after the competition individually.

Genki, I've never heard the kind of party in Japan, it may be a travelling tour or something? Anyway, Have a fun and enjoy Daisuke and other skater's performances!! It'll be a nice competition of Grand Prix series.

Leode wrote:

It'll be a nice competition of Grand Prix series.

It may be a coincidence but NHK always comes to be the most exciting event of Grand Prix Series Lucky you, those who can attend it )))) I can't wait til it starts!

According to latest Interview with Daisuke at NHK TV program today, Daisuke said with a smile "I'm so exciting to perform in this competition and I can't wait to see how the judges evaluates my performance after my one year's blank."

Takeshi Honda analyzed Daisuke current performance and he said, "While he is doing his steps, his body is curved with the deep edge work at the same time his body balance is so stable more than before. It makes move quickly to the next movements for him. It's amazing!"
And he was asked about a quad jump as Daisuke's jumping coach, Takeshi declared "Everything seems to be fine. I have him jump a quad for Olympic Games!!"

Latest Interview with Daisuke at NHK TV program
http://www.nhk.or.jp/figure2009/interviews/int_takahashi/index_flv.html

Hi Genki!

I found this. A public viewing, but it's in NAGANO!!!
http://www.nhk.or.jp/nagano/event/1108/pv.html

And I also found this.
http://www.skatingjapan.or.jp/image_data/EVENT/1143_2.pdf
Some tickets will be sold at the arena on each day during NHK Trophy.

If you can go to Nagano , please try!!

Hi Genki, welcome back to Japan.

I have one extra ticket for NHK Trophy tomorrow (Day 1) - it's an "A" seat, 3rd floor, block R, row 4, number 1X.

Is anyone interested in this ticket?!

It was 7000 yen, but I'll definitely discount if anyone is interested in. I was going to throw this ticket away as I just managed to get another ticket for Day 1 today.

If anyone is interested in this ticket, please let me know. I can give the ticket at the Arene before opening if you are going.

Sorry if this isn't appropriate to talk about the tickets here but I thought it'd be a shame to waste it...

Thanks!

Starting order is up.
http://www.isuresults.com/results/gpjpn09/SEG001.HTM

Here is the latest news.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/k10013585391000.html
Takahashi senshu practiced mainly jumps such as 3A in the morning practice. He tried quad a few times but didn't suceed.

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/091105/spm0911051127000-n1.htm
pics:
http://www.sanspo.com/sports/photos/091105/spm0911051127000-p2.htm
http://www.sanspo.com/sports/photos/091105/spm0911051127000-p3.htm
In the morning practice, Takahashi jumped 3A in a row but he didn't succeed to land quads.
Takahiko Kozuka who jumped a quad/quads looked in good form.

Miki wrote:

Is anyone interested in this ticket?!

Hi, Miki. Unfotunately I can't go to Nagano due to my job.....
I hope you have a great time there!!! And please let us know your impression of the competition!!


GO DAI-CHAN!!!

Another news article:

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/other/091105/oth0911051814013-n1.htm

It says that Daisuke attempted 16 quads in practice today, but only landed one cleanly.

Anyway, I can't wait for tomorrow!

Thanks for the reviews, everyone. Oh, I'm so proud of Dai's tenacity. Best luck for him!

Thank you for the news, miyu and Calliope!

Quote :

It says that Daisuke attempted 16 quads in practice today, but only landed one cleanly.

Well, 1/16 isn't exactly the best success rate imaginable. Maybe it's too soon to plan a quad in either SP or LP.

Daisuke doesn't really need a quad in this competition, if the rest is done well.

Yes, pineapple!!
http://www.sanspo.com/sports/photos/091105/spm0911051801001-p44.htm

Thank you so much for many links, all!!
Here is tomorrow's starting order for Short program.
Daisuke will be assigned last one of Warm-up Group 1.

Men - Short Program

Starting Order
http://www.isuresults.com/results/gpjpn09/SEG001.HTM

StN. Name Nation
Warm-Up Group 1
1 Daisuke MURAKAMI JPN
2 Jeremy TEN CAN
3 Vaughn CHIPEUR CAN
4 Kristoffer BERNTSSON SWE
5 Artem BORODULIN RUS
6 Daisuke TAKAHASHI JPN

Warm-Up Group 2
7 Johnny WEIR USA
8 Adam RIPPON USA
9 Jeremy ABBOTT USA
10 Michal BREZINA CZE
11 Takahiko KOZUKA JPN
12 Brian JOUBERT FRA

Have a fun for Daisuke and all his fans!!
And enjoy your skating, Daisuke!!

I just watched NHK news which showed today's practice in Nagano.

In the news Dai-chan jumped 4T three times, all of them were two-footed (perhaps, short of rotation) but had good high, and he landed beautiful 3A and 3F-3T. It seemd his jumps were OK besides 4T.
Takahiko landed a very nice 4T. Miki landed 2A-3T and 3Lz-3Lo.
Brian did two 3-something and I felt his jumps were a bit heavy..... I hope he' s OK this time.

miyu wrote:

Yes, pineapple!!
http://www.sanspo.com/sports/photos/091105/spm0911051801001-p44.htm

LOL Arigato!

http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/winter/skate/figure/headlines/20091106-00000007-kyodo_sp-spo.html

Daisuke Takahashi and Takahiko Kozuka, both of them did final adjustment for tonight's SP in this morning. They jumped 3A and 3-3 and expectations for good performances in the competition ware increased.

GO DAI-CHAN!!

New outfit for "eye".

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/flash/KFullFlash20091106022_p.html

Cool!!!

(Actually this is what he wore when he helped Shizuka's performance in Japan Open, I suppose. )

Just finished watching the men's SP... It's too bad about Daisuke's fall on the footwork, it was so random! But he looked so nervous before going to skate, I'm almost not surprised that it happened. He still got a very good score for a fall and a shaky lutz though, and he can definitely bounce back tomorrow.

(I'm not sure I like Daisuke's new costume though -- it reminds me too much of Evan's SP costume last year, which I didn't like either.)

I really enjoyed Johnny's and Jeremy's performances! I was worried about Johnny since I heard he got sick on the way to Japan, but he did really well. And Jeremy was just awesome.

Kozuka's fall on the axel was sad. =\ But I really like this program from him, and hopefully he'll do better tomorrow. Missed half of Joubert's program because my feed froze, but the audience was going crazy so it must've been good.

Calliope wrote:

It's too bad about Daisuke's fall on the footwork, it was so random!

I'm starting to wonder if Dai's strategy is to get all the random/unexpected falls out of the way early in the season! LOL

I prefer the costume he had at the Finlandia Trophy (or the one he used last year) and I think that his hair looked better in Finland too... That might be an explanation too!

Now I can't wait to see how La Strada has improved in the past month! He's not far behind in the standings (and got the highest PCS), I have no doubt that he can move onto the podium tomorrow!

Go Dai-chan!

I thought his hair looked better at Finlandia too... But maybe it'll look better tomorrow?

Anyway, here's an article with a detailed comment from Daisuke:
http://www.asahi.com/olympics/news/TKY200911060342.html

He says that before he fell, he lost his balance and then his edge got caught before he could regain his belance. His tension was too high, and he tried to appeal to the judges but couldn't control himself. His mind and body still aren't in sync. He can't remember if his legs felt tired right before he fell, he was just so surprised he thought "Oh no!" But tomorrow he'll try the quad.

Another article: http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/091106/spm0911061841011-n1.htm

"I was more nervous than I thought I would be. More than the score, I'm frustrated that I couldn't do what I wanted to. The fall on the steps was because I lost my balance and the edge got caught. I was surprised."