14-year-old table tennis prodigy defeats Chinese world champion

Tomozaku Harimoto (Japan), 14 years old, surprisingly defeated Ma Long with a score of 4-2 in the quarter-finals of the Japan Open, on the afternoon of June 9.

The Kitakyushu Stadium was nearly full when the host country's number two player faced off against the "monument" Ma Long. The Japanese audience was not disappointed, witnessing Harimoto dominate the new China Open champion. Ma is not only the 2017 world champion, but is also considered the most successful tennis player in the world of plastic tennis.

"My dream has come true. Ma is my idol. So, beating him on his home soil is a miracle. I was leading 3-0, but when Ma gradually came back, I was really worried. This is an important step towards my goal of winning the 2020 Olympic gold medal," Harimoto confidently said.

The two players played evenly in the first three sets, but Harimoto knew how to rise to the occasion at the decisive moment. The scores were 11-8, 11-9 and 11-7. But in the next two sets, Ma showed his class as the world number two, winning 11-3 and 11-2.

Just when the 29-year-old seemed to be on the verge of a "miraculous" comeback, he made a series of mistakes in the sixth game. Ma could not reproduce his performance against world number one Fan Zhendong in the China Open final last week. He gave up the game with a score of 6-11. The Kitakyushu stadium exploded, mixed with Harimoto's joyful screams.

The match was dramatic.

In their only previous encounter, Harimoto was defeated 0-4. But that was at the 2015 Poland Open. The sweet revenge against Ma helped Harimoto now have three consecutive victories over three top Chinese players. In the first round of the China Open, Harimoto defeated Zhang Jike - the 2012 Olympic champion - with four straight games. At the Asian tournament two months ago, the 14-year-old also defeated Fan with a score of 3-1.

In the 2018 Japan Open semi-finals, Harimoto faced world No. 8 Lee Sang-su. The other semi-final was between top seed Timo Boll and Zhang Jike.

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