Tomokazu Harimoto

Tomokazu Harimoto (張本 智和, Harimoto Tomokazu, born 27 June 2003) is a Japanese professional table tennis player who is currently world rank number 4 in ITTF. In 2016, he won the world junior singles and team title at the 2016 World Junior Table Tennis Championships for Japan.

Tomokazu Harimoto
Harimoto at the 2018 Youth Olympics Final
Personal information
NationalityChinese (before 2014)
Japanese (after 2014)
BornZhang Zhihe (張智和)
(2003-06-27) 27 June 2003
Sendai, Miyagi, Japan[1]
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[2]
Weight64 kg (141 lb)[2]
Table tennis career
Playing styleRight-handed, shakehand grip
Equipment(s)Butterfly Harimoto Tomokazu Innerforce ALC, Butterfly Dignics 05 (Forehand) Dignics 05 (Backhand)[3]
Highest ranking2 (22 Nov 2022)[4]
Current ranking5 (17 Oct 2023)[5]
ClubRyukyu Asteeda (T.League)[6]
TTC Neu-Ulm (TTCLM)[7]
Medal record
Men's table tennis
Representing  Japan
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 0 0 1
World Championships 0 2 1
World Cup 0 2 0
Total 0 4 2
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place2020 TokyoTeam
World Championships
Silver medal – second place2021 HoustonMixed doubles
Silver medal – second place2023 DurbanMixed doubles
Bronze medal – third place2022 ChengduTeam
World Cup
Silver medal – second place2018 LondonTeam
Silver medal – second place2019 ChengduSingles
WTT Cup Finals
Silver medal – second place2021 SingaporeSingles
Silver medal – second place2022 XinxiangSingles
ITTF World Tour Grand Finals
Gold medal – first place2018 IncheonSingles
Asian Championships
Bronze medal – third place2017 WuxiTeam
Bronze medal – third place2019 YogyakartaSingles
Bronze medal – third place2019 YogyakartaTeam
Asian Cup
Gold medal – first place2022 BangkokSingles
Summer Youth Olympics
Silver medal – second place2018 Buenos AiresSingles
Silver medal – second place2018 Buenos AiresMixed team
World Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place2016 Cape TownSingles
Gold medal – first place2016 Cape TownTeam
Silver medal – second place2016 Cape TownDoubles
Asian Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place2016 BangkokTeam
Silver medal – second place2016 BangkokSingles

In August 2017, he became the youngest ever winner of an ITTF World Tour men's singles title, winning the Czech Open title at the age of 14 years and 61 days.[8] In December 2018, he became the youngest player to win the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals at the age of 15 years and 172 days.[9]

Personal life

Harimoto was born as Zhang Zhihe[lower-alpha 1] in Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture. His father Yuu Harimoto[lower-alpha 2] and mother Zhang Ling[lower-alpha 3] are both former professional table tennis players from Sichuan province, China. Zhang Ling, at the peak of her career, represented China at the 43rd World Table Tennis Championships in Tianjin.[10] Tomokazu's younger sister Miwa Harimoto[lower-alpha 4] is also a table tennis player competing in the U-18 junior table tennis circuit.[11][12]

Harimoto began playing table tennis at the age of two.[13] He became a naturalized citizen of Japan in 2014 and legally changed his surname to Harimoto. After graduating from East Miyagi Elementary School in 2016, he relocated to Tokyo to join the JOC Elite Academy. His pastimes include baseball and reading.[14]

In April 2022, Harimoto announced he will be attending Waseda University School of Human Sciences after graduating from Nihon University Senior High School.[15]

Career

Junior career

Harimoto first won the All-Japan Table Tennis Championships Juniors title in 2010 as a first grader. He would continue to win the tournament for all 6 years of his elementary school years. In 2015, he was chosen to represent Japan at the World Junior Table Tennis Championships in France, becoming the youngest Japanese player to be chosen. However, due to the November 2015 Paris attacks, Harimoto was not able to participate in the tournament.

Aged 12 years and 355 days, Harimoto defeated seasoned professionals Ho Kwan Kit, Hugo Calderano, and teammate Kohei Sambe to win the 2016 U-21 Japan Open title. With the win, he became the youngest winner ITTF World Tour under-21 men's singles title.[1] Later that year, Harimoto won gold medals in the boys' singles and teams events at the World Junior Table Tennis Championships in Cape Town, South Africa. This win was historic, as Harimoto became the youngest winner of the World Junior Championships aged 13 years and 163 days. Harimoto achieved an Under-21 ranking of No. 10 in the world in December 2016.

2017

Harimoto began the year in February at the recently revamped India Open. He reached the finals with victories over Álvaro Robles, Sakai Asuka, Robert Gardos, and local favorite Sharath Kamal, before losing to defending champion Dimitrij Ovtcharov in straight sets.

2018

In June of 2018, Harimoto shocked the world by winning first place in the ITTF World Tour Japan Open, after beating Olympic champions Ma Long in the semifinal and Zhang Jike in the final.[16] He was just short of 15 years old when he won the title. Later in the year, Harimoto continued to win the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in Incheon, South Korea, where he defeated Lin Gaoyuan 4-1 in the final and became the youngest-ever winner of the event. His outstanding performance in 2018 also helped him reach No.3 in the ITTF world ranking, his career best.

2020

Harimoto won third place at the 2020 World Cup. Harimoto led 3–1 against Ma Long in the semi-finals, but lost 4–3 after Ma Long called time-out in the fifth game and switched to a high-toss serve that Harimoto had trouble reading.[17]

2021

In March, Harimoto played in WTT Doha. He was upset in the semi-finals by Dimitrij Ovtcharov in the WTT Contender event, but won the champion for the WTT Star Contender event.[18]

In June, teammate Jun Mizutani said that Harimoto's mental game was steadily improving in 2021 and better than the previous year. Mizutani also positively noted that Harimoto was reverting to his more aggressive style of play in 2021.[19]

Harimoto was upset by Darko Jorgic in the round of 16 of the men's singles event at the Tokyo Olympics.[20] Originally slated to be the ace player in the team event, Harimoto ended up playing in doubles in Japan's 3–1 victory against Sweden in the quarter-finals.[21] In the semi-finals, Harimoto won both his matches as the ace player against Germany, but Germany still won 3–2.[22]

Records
  • June 2016: Youngest ever winner of an ITTF World Tour under-21 men's singles title (12 years, 355 days).[1]
  • December 2016: Youngest ever winner of the boys' singles title at the World Junior Championships (13 years, 163 days).[23]
  • August 2017: Youngest ever winner of an ITTF World Tour men's singles title (14 years, 61 days).[8]
  • January 2018: Youngest ever winner of the men's singles title at the Japanese National Championships (14 years, 207 days).[24]
  • December 2018: Youngest ever winner of an ITTF World Tour Grand Finals men's singles title (15 years, 172 days).[25]

Awards

Major tournament performance timeline
Key
W F SF QF #R

(W) won; (F) finalist; (SF) semi-finalist, rank added if bronze medal match played; (QF) quarter-finalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1;
(S) singles event; (MD) men's doubles event; (XD) mixed doubles event; (T) team event.

Tournament 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
World Championships S QF 4R 2R QF
MD 3R 3R 1R
XD F F
T QF SF
Olympic Games S 4R
T SF3
WTT Cup Finals S F F
World Cup S QF F SF3
T F SF
World Tour Grand Finals S QF W QF 1R
MD QF
Year-end ranking 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
17 5 5 5 5 2

Senior career highlights, as of 26 May 2023[27]

ITTF/WTT career finals

Singles: 13 (8 titles, 5 runners-up)
Result Year Tournament Opponent Score Ref
Runner-up 2017 ITTF World Tour, India Open Germany Dimitrij Ovtcharov 0–4 [28]
Winner 2017 ITTF World Tour, Czech Open Germany Timo Boll 4–2 [29]
Winner 2018 ITTF World Tour, Japan Open China Zhang Jike 4–3 [30]
Winner 2018 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals China Lin Gaoyuan 4–1 [31]
Runner-up 2019 ITTF World Tour, Hong Kong Open China Lin Gaoyuan 2–4 [32]
Winner 2019 ITTF World Tour, Bulgaria Open China Zhao Zihao 4–2 [33]
Runner-up 2019 World Cup China Fan Zhendong 2–4 [34]
Winner 2020 ITTF World Tour, Hungarian Open Japan Yukiya Uda 4–1 [35]
Winner 2021 WTT Star Contender Doha Germany Ruwen Filus 4–2 [36]
Runner-up 2021 WTT Cup Finals China Fan Zhendong 1–4 [37]
Winner 2022 WTT Champions European Summer Series China Lin Gaoyuan 4–3 [38]
Runner-up 2022 WTT Cup Finals China Wang Chuqin 2–4 [39]
Winner 2022 Asian Cup South Korea Lim Jong-hoon 4–1 [40]

Men's doubles: 3 (1 title, 2 runners-up)
Result Year Tournament Partner Opponents Score Ref
Runner-up 2017 ITTF World Tour Platinum, China Open Yuto Kizukuri Japan Jin Ueda / Maharu Yoshimura 1–3 [41]
Runner-up 2017 ITTF World Tour Platinum, German Open Yuto Kizukuri South Korea Jung Young-sik / Lee Sang-su 2–3 [42]
Winner 2022 WTT Contender Tunis Yuto Kizukuri China Zhao Zihao / Xue Fei 3–2 [43]

Mixed doubles: 9 (4 titles, 6 runners-up)
Result Year Tournament Partner Opponents Score Ref
Runner-up 2019 ITTF World Tour Platinum, Japan Open Hina Hayata China Xu Xin / Zhu Yuling 0–3 [44]
Winner 2019 ITTF World Tour Platinum, Austrian Open Hina Hayata China Lin Gaoyuan / Zhu Yuling 3–1 [45]
Runner-up 2021 World Championships Hina Hayata China Wang Chuqin / Sun Yingsha 0–3 [46]
Winner 2022 WTT Contender Zagreb Hina Hayata Hong Kong Wong Chun Ting / Doo Hoi Kem 3–0 [47]
Runner-up 2022 WTT Star Contender European Summer Series Hina Hayata China Wang Chuqin / Wang Manyu 2–3 [48]
Winner 2022 WTT Contender Tunis Miwa Harimoto Chinese Taipei Feng Yi-hsin / Chen Szu-yu 3–2 [49]
Runner-up 2023 Singapore Smash Hina Hayata China Wang Chuqin / Sun Yingsha 1–3 [50]
Runner-up 2023 World Championships Hina Hayata China Wang Chuqin / Sun Yingsha 0–3 [51]
Runner-up 2023 WTT Star Contender Lanzhou Hina Hayata China Lin Shidong / Kuai Man 2–3 [52]
Winner 2023 WTT Contender Antalya Hina Hayata France Felix Lebrun / Prithika Pavade 3–1 [53]

Record against top-10 players

Harimoto's singles match record against those who have been ranked in the top 10, with those who have been No. 1 in bold:

Statistics correct as of 9 October 2022. * indicates current world rank no. 1.

Player Ranking Record Win% Last match
China Fan Zhendong* 1 2–5 29% Won (3–2) at 2022 World Team Table Tennis Championships
Germany Timo Boll 1 1–2 33% Lost (1–4) at 2018 ITTF Men's World Cup
Germany Dimitrij Ovtcharov 1 4–4 50% Won (3–1) at 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games
China Xu Xin 1 0–8 0% Lost (3–4) at 2019 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals
China Ma Long 1 2–4 33% Lost (3–4) at 2020 ITTF Men's World Cup
China Zhang Jike 1 2–0 100% Won (4–3) at 2018 ITTF Japan Open
Belarus Vladimir Samsonov 1 5–0 100% Won (4–1) at 2019 ITTF World Tour Platinum German Open
China Lin Gaoyuan 2 3–2 60% Won (4–3) at 2022 WTT Champions, Budapest
Chinese Taipei Chuang Chih-yuan 3 3–3 50% Won (3–0) at 2021 WTT Contender, Doha
China Liang Jingkun 3 1–3 25% Lost (2–4) at 2019 ITTF World Tour Platinum German Open
Brazil Hugo Calderano 3 4–1 80% Won (4–1) at 2021 WTT Cup Finals, Singapore
China Wang Chuqin 3 2–5 29% Lost (2–4) at 2022 WTT Cup Finals
Japan Jun Mizutani 4 3–0 100% Won (4–1) at 2019 ITTF World Tour Hong Kong Open
Sweden Truls Möregårdh 4 0–1 0% Lost (1–3) at 2018 Summer Youth Olympics
Japan Koki Niwa 5 4–1 80% Won (4–3) at 2019 ITTF Men's World Cup
Chinese Taipei Lin Yun-ju 5 2–0 100% Won (3–1) at 2018 ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup
Slovenia Darko Jorgic 6 2–1 66% Lost (3–4) at 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games
South Korea Lee Sang-su 6 3–1 75% Won (4–2) at 2021 WTT Contender, Doha
Hong Kong Wong Chun Ting 6 7–2 78% Won (3–0) at 2022 World Team Table Tennis Championships
Portugal Marcos Freitas 7 3–2 60% Won (3–1) at 2022 World Team Table Tennis Championships
Sweden Mattias Falck 7 1-2 33% Lost (1-3) at 2022 WTT Champions, Macao
South Korea Jung Young-sik 7 3–1 75% Won (3–0) at 2021 WTT Star Contender, Doha
Japan Kenta Matsudaira 9 0–1 0% Lost (2–4) at 2018 ITTF World Tour Bulgarian Open
Singapore Gao Ning 9 1–0 100% Won (3–0) at 2018 World Team Table Tennis Championships
Germany Dang Qiu 9 1-0 100% Won (3-0) at 2022 WTT Champions, Budapest
South Korea Jang Woo-jin 9 4–2 66% Won (3–1) at 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games
Nigeria Quadri Aruna 10 3-1 75% Lost (0-3) at 2023 WTT Smash, Singapore

Notes
  1. simplified Chinese: 张智和; traditional Chinese: 張智和; pinyin: Zhāng Zhìhé
  2. Japanese: 張本 宇, romanized: Harimoto Yū. Born as Zhang Yu (simplified Chinese: 张宇; traditional Chinese: 張宇; pinyin: Zhāng Yǔ).
  3. simplified Chinese: 张凌; traditional Chinese: 張凌; pinyin: Zhāng Líng
  4. Japanese: 張本 美和, romanized: Harimoto Miwa. Born 16 June 2008 as Zhang Meihe (simplified Chinese: 张美和; traditional Chinese: 張美和; pinyin: Zhāng Měihé).

References
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  2. "Tomokazu Harimoto". ttcnu.de (in German). Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  3. "HARIMOTO, TOMOKAZU". butterflyonline.com. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
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  5. "ITTF Table Tennis World Ranking". ittf.com. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  6. "張本 智和 Tomokazu Harimoto". tleague.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  7. "TTC Neu-Ulm Team". TTC Neu-Ulm (in German). Retrieved 9 October 2022.
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  10. 人民網日本語版. "日本の「希望の星」、弱冠13歳で世界選手権ベスト8に入った張本智和とは？―中国紙". Record China (in Japanese). Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  11. "中国教练：张本美和天赋不输哥哥 未来必成大器". sports.sina.com.cn. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
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  13. "【卓球】期待の星・張本智和、金のシナリオ！エリートアカデミーで技磨く : スポーツ報知". Archived from the original on 15 November 2016.
  14. "始動：２０２０を目指して／１ 卓球 東京の頂、新世代の決意". 毎日新聞 (in Japanese). Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  15. Harimoto Tomokazu [@harimoto__tomokazu_1711] (1 April 2022). "早稲田大学人間科学部（通信教育課程）に入学しました!". Retrieved 9 October 2022 – via Instagram.
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