Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto dismisses China table tennis threat, says Wang Chuqin only good player

The veneer of invincibility surrounding Chinese table tennis has been slowly chipped away over the past two years, and now Japanese ace Tomokazu Harimoto has sparked a furore by suggesting none of the country’s players are unbeatable.

Harimoto also threw further fuel on the fire by saying that, of the Chinese men, only Wang Chuqin was a good player.

The 22-year-old added that he, Swede Truls Moregard and Brazil’s Hugo Calderano were among a list of players capable of “consistently beating” their Chinese rivals.

In an interview with Japanese magazine World Table Tennis, Harimoto said while the likes of Fan Zhendong and Lin Shidong had “great backhands”, they were “not difficult to deal with”.

“The faster their backhands, the easier for me,” said Harimoto, whose parents are from mainland China. “Wang Chuqin is the only one who can play really good table tennis.”

Chinese fans were quick to respond, pointing out that Harimoto had lost to world No 48 Xue Fei in the opening round of the recent World Table Tennis Macau Champions a fortnight ago. The lower-ranked Xue has now beaten Harimoto twice, after also winning at the WTT Singapore Smash in February.

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