ITTF WTTC Finals Doha 2025, 5/17-25

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With a weaker Chinese bench and his usually strong performance against the Chinese, Harimoto is the supposed to be a favorite to win.

Here are the upsets:

2019 World Championships: Lost to lower-ranked An Jae Hyun in R16
2021 Olympics: Lost to lower-ranked Darko Jorgic in R16
2021 World Championships: Lost to lower-ranked Jakob Dyjas in the second round
2024 Olympics Team Events: Lost to Kallberg in crucial Semifinal Team Event, and Lin Yun Ju in Team QF

And now: 2025 World Championships: Lost to lower-ranked Togami(yes they are familiar with each other but his experience at the World Championships for nearly 10 years and beating the Chinese should give him mental advantages, but again he got nervous and allowed Togami to play his game).

Yes, there's a pattern that he flames out when he's the favorite to win. Unless he overcomes that, then he cannot progress further and will be known as an early-bloomer like many young players who were outstanding juniors who flamed out when they hit senior level.
Sticking to singles:
Timo Boll had no Olympic medals and 2 WTTC bronze medals.
Dima has 2 Olympic bronze and no WTTC singles medals.
Moregardh who is young and had early success just not on the level of Harimoto has the one Olympic silver and one WTTC silver.
Felix Lebrun who is young and had early success has no WTTC medals yet and an Olympic bronze.
Lin Yun Ju has no medals.
Jun Mizutani has one Olympic bronze and no WTTC medals, had early success (WJTTC finalist at the age of 15) and iss considered the greatest Japanese modern player.

All of them have losses that are similar to Harimoto at one point or another.

Which planet do you live on? Or are you one of those guys who think that everyone who is a favorite performs like the Chinese?
 
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another umpire call by racketgate umpire

I think this umpire got suspended. I haven’t seen him for the whole day so far. I think there was another umpire as well in the same match as that umpire and he too I have not seen for the whole day. Maybe two umpires are currently suspended. One for purposely damaging rackets in the envelope and two for messing with WCQ table tennis match balls.
 
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With a weaker Chinese bench and his usually strong performance against the Chinese, Harimoto is the supposed to be a favorite to win.

Here are the upsets:

2019 World Championships: Lost to lower-ranked An Jae Hyun in R16
2021 Olympics: Lost to lower-ranked Darko Jorgic in R16
2021 World Championships: Lost to lower-ranked Jakob Dyjas in the second round
2024 Olympics Team Events: Lost to Kallberg in crucial Semifinal Team Event, and Lin Yun Ju in Team QF

And now: 2025 World Championships: Lost to lower-ranked Togami(yes they are familiar with each other but his experience at the World Championships for nearly 10 years and beating the Chinese should give him mental advantages, but again he got nervous and allowed Togami to play his game).

Yes, there's a pattern that he flames out when he's the favorite to win. Unless he overcomes that, then he cannot progress further and will be known as an early-bloomer like many young players who were outstanding juniors who flamed out when they hit senior level.
Flaming our does nit mean what you think it means. You should be looking ar someone like Yu Ziyang if you want to go thar route though even in his case, it is more he didnt get chances to play on thr CNT. But again you would have to ignore all lot of medals that Harimoto has won to make your flameput argument, the issue is at most the gap between expectations and reality and hardly any flaming out.
 
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With a weaker Chinese bench and his usually strong performance against the Chinese, Harimoto is the supposed to be a favorite to win.

Here are the upsets:

2019 World Championships: Lost to lower-ranked An Jae Hyun in R16
2021 Olympics: Lost to lower-ranked Darko Jorgic in R16
2021 World Championships: Lost to lower-ranked Jakob Dyjas in the second round
2024 Olympics Team Events: Lost to Kallberg in crucial Semifinal Team Event, and Lin Yun Ju in Team QF

And now: 2025 World Championships: Lost to lower-ranked Togami(yes they are familiar with each other but his experience at the World Championships for nearly 10 years and beating the Chinese should give him mental advantages, but again he got nervous and allowed Togami to play his game).

Yes, there's a pattern that he flames out when he's the favorite to win. Unless he overcomes that, then he cannot progress further and will be known as an early-bloomer like many young players who were outstanding juniors who flamed out when they hit senior level.
Last I checked, WCQ and LJK are entered in this tournament so not sure how you consider him a "favorite to win". Sure, he's been one of the top players in the world for those tournaments but that, or one's earlier successes as a child, don't make you a "favorite to win".

Who by your estimation was the favorite to win the 2024 Asian Champs after WCQ was knocked out by OJS and Harimoto "only" had to beat LSD in the final...and then did? Why didn't he choke as the favorite there?

Who by your estimation was the favorite to win 2025 Star Contender Doha when the CNT only sent HYZ and XP and then Harimoto cruised to the gold? Why didn't he choke as the favorite there?

Who by your estimation was the favorite to win 2024 Star Contender Bangkok when LGY was the sole CNT representative, and Harimoto crushed him in the finals after beating LYJ in the SF? Why didn't he choke as the favorite there?
 
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Sorry sir, but there was Xu Xin in that bottom half.

May I suggest some "Gauzyllotine" moment to refresh your memory ?

Don't be that biased, everyone knows Gauzy is responsible for that non all-chinese final.
If you checked out that thread, that's exactly why I made that meme. Please read through what others wrote before jumping the gun.
 
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another umpire call by racketgate umpire

It's a ... tough argument: SYS was leaning maybe half of her arm on the bottom line. What's making me wondering is the lack of english language understanding by SYS, it's WCQ that had to show her the problem explained by the umpire, even if it was... maybe questionable, but not that terrible.

It's the major problem also with the chinese athletes, there are many problems with umpires because they don't always understand english... and sometimes that english is not that well spoken or correctly formulated by the umpires. There's definitely something here to be adressed to the ITTF: work on your english EVERYONE !
 
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Last I checked, WCQ and LJK are entered in this tournament so not sure how you consider him a "favorite to win". Sure, he's been one of the top players in the world for those tournaments but that, or one's earlier successes as a child, don't make you a "favorite to win".

Who by your estimation was the favorite to win the 2024 Asian Champs after WCQ was knocked out by OJS and Harimoto "only" had to beat LSD in the final...and then did? Why didn't he choke as the favorite there?

Who by your estimation was the favorite to win 2025 Star Contender Doha when the CNT only sent HYZ and XP and then Harimoto cruised to the gold? Why didn't he choke as the favorite there?

Who by your estimation was the favorite to win 2024 Star Contender Bangkok when LGY was the sole CNT representative, and Harimoto crushed him in the finals after beating LYJ in the SF? Why didn't he choke as the favorite there?
Then why were his records in the World Championships including this one and Olympics abysmal so far then especially with many early round exits? Isn't that what choking as a favorite in a major tournament is?

The World Championships and Olympics are not the same type of tournament as a WTT tournament. If you want some proof, look at Ma Long, who was the king of every tournament except the World Championships and Olympics until 2015, what pressure and mental barriers he had to overcome to become successful in each of these major tournaments? ML was the favorite in 2011 and 2013 World Championships, but ended up choking in both tournaments when he was supposed to win them as the favorite that he had to overcome a mental barrier to win in 2015. That's where Harimoto's at with the World Championships and Olympics are a special type of pressure.
 
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That's why I deleted it before you jumped yours you stupid.
You wouldn't have posted it in the first place if you'd read through my post. Smarty.
 
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Then why were his records in the World Championships including this one and Olympics abysmal so far then especially with many early round exits? Isn't that what choking as a favorite in a major tournament is?

The World Championships and Olympics are not the same type of tournament as a WTT tournament. If you want some proof, look at Ma Long, who was the king of every tournament except the World Championships and Olympics until 2015, what pressure and mental barriers he had to overcome to become successful in each of these major tournaments? ML was the favorite in 2011 and 2013 World Championships, but ended up choking in both tournaments when he was supposed to win them as the favorite that he had to overcome a mental barrier to win in 2015. That's where Harimoto's at with the World Championships and Olympics are a special type of pressure.
So is the pressure he is failing under due to the magnitude of the tournament or the strength of the field now?
 
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It's the major problem also with the chinese athletes, there are many problems with umpires because they don't always understand english... and sometimes that english is not that well spoken or correctly formulated by the umpires. There's definitely something here to be adressed to the ITTF: work on your english EVERYONE !
Actually, with this new racketgate, I discovered that WCQ speaks a proper English.
It's not normal that some athletes need to speak English during after match interview, when some other have an unnecessary translator ( Chinese, Japanese...).
 
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Actually, with this new racketgate, I discovered that WCQ speaks a proper English.
It's not normal that some athletes need to speak English during after match interview, when some other have an unnecessary translator ( Chinese, Japanese...).
The umpires' English skills are more of a problem than the athletes'. That was the point. Once they try to discuss anything with the umpires you see the issue.
 
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Actually, with this new racketgate, I discovered that WCQ speaks a proper English.
It's not normal that some athletes need to speak English during after match interview, when some other have an unnecessary translator ( Chinese, Japanese...).
Asian athletes especially from China, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea, have a tendency to express how they played in their native language, but they are fine with communicating in broken English. The current generation of Chinese players speak better English than their previous counterparts who had to use hand signals to communicate, especially with umpires.
 
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Then why were his records in the World Championships including this one and Olympics abysmal so far then especially with many early round exits? Isn't that what choking as a favorite in a major tournament is?

The World Championships and Olympics are not the same type of tournament as a WTT tournament. If you want some proof, look at Ma Long, who was the king of every tournament except the World Championships and Olympics until 2015, what pressure and mental barriers he had to overcome to become successful in each of these major tournaments? ML was the favorite in 2011 and 2013 World Championships, but ended up choking in both tournaments when he was supposed to win them as the favorite that he had to overcome a mental barrier to win in 2015. That's where Harimoto's at with the World Championships and Olympics are a special type of pressure.
Then what age was ML at WTTC 2015? ML didn't even win his first World Cup until 2012 (ZJK gave him his spot) when he was 24, whereas ZJK was already a grand slam holder also at 24.

What has Harimoto achieved at his age?

3 World Cup medals (silver in 2019 4-2 ML in SF, 2-4 FZD in F, bronze in 2020 3-1 -> 3-4 ML in SF, 4-3 JWJ in 3rd place match, bronze in 2024 0-4 LGY in SF). QF at WTTC 2017 (1-4 XX) and 2023 (2-4 LJK) (compare that with LYJ). QF at Paris 2024 (2-0 -> 2-3 -> 3-4 FZD). Other than singles, his team performance qualifies him a place in the ITTF Hall of Fame if he had a real teammate (staring at Togami).

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/wtt-contender-doha-2024.32718/post-442060
Ever since WTTC 1993 implemented the New Swaythling Cup System (bo5, 5 singles), there have been 4 players ONLY (3 men and 1 woman) who got 2 points off of China in the team event:
WTTC 1995 MT F Jan-Ove Waldner (29.6 years old)
WTTC 2000 MT F Jorgen Persson (33.8 years old)
WTTC 2010 WT F Feng Tianwei (23.7 years old)
WTTC 2022 MT SF Harimoto Tomokazu (19.3 years old)

Disregarding the match format, Harimoto at WTTC 2022 was still 4.2 years younger than Waldner back at WTTC 1989. Note also that in WTTC 1995 and WTTC 2022, both players were playing when their team was behind in match score (0-1 and 1-2). That's yet another reason why I do not consider ML as the greatest of all time.
 
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