Japan ended China’s monopoly on the men’s team table tennis gold at the Asian Games by winning the final 3-2, bringing to an end 32 years of Chinese dominance in the event, which had covered every edition of the Games since 1994.
Matsushima seals final for Japan
The deciding point came from Sora Matsushima, who defeated China’s Wen Ruibo in the fifth and final match. His team-mate Tomokazu Harimoto said the victory had enabled Japan to overcome what he described as an inferiority complex against China, which has a long record in the sport. Harimoto said beating China proved that confidence was what the Japanese players had lacked in the past.
We simply managed to achieve the one thing we had been lacking, which was confidence
Japan’s strength in depth in the rankings
Japan, by contrast, entered the final with two players ranked in the world’s top five: third-ranked Matsushima and fourth-ranked Harimoto. Harimoto said China had previously had six or seven strong players, which, he said, had enabled it to maintain its dominant era for 10 or 20 years.
He added that having himself and Matsushima among the world’s top five had made victories of this kind possible. Wang opened the tie by beating Matsushima, before losing to Harimoto in straight games. Harimoto brought Japan level at 2-2, but was unable to watch the final match from the team bench.
The Japanese player explained that he had chosen not to return to the bench alongside his team-mates out of superstition, saying Matsushima would have seen him if he had sat there and might not have minded, but that he himself would have been affected by the situation. Wang, for his part, acknowledged experiencing mental difficulties during the match.
He said China’s players may have felt some panic as they tried to perform better, causing them to rush some shots. Harimoto’s parents were born in China, and his mother previously represented the country at the World Championships, while his sister Miwa plays for Japan’s women’s team.
In the women’s competition, China restored its pride against Japan with a 3-0 victory in the final. But the men’s team defeat angered Chinese fans on social media, with one user on Weibo writing that the team, despite having the best resources and treatment, suffered from a lack of consistency and a talent gap.
