Tomokazu Harimoto leads 10-0 and then this happened!

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I think its perfectly fine , in this case he was trying to lose it but it landed or he forgot the score. from my personal POV if I am losing 10-0, I deserve to lose 11-0, so I would rather have my opponent beat me 11-0 , for me thats less embarrassing . In fact, if somebody gives me a point at 10-0 , I would keep fighting for the next point and the next, because it was his prerogative to give the point and I would rather ignore the fact that I got a mercy point and rather put some points on the board to make it look the scores a little better. But then thats how I think ...
 
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I also think he was aiming just off the table, so as not to make it too obvious. This would have been quite a risky angle, too. And of course the ball landed...

In France at least it's a cultural thing, without it being mentioned. Playing as a junior I landed one of my fastest serves ever attempting to do just that, bang in the corner of the table. Sure didn't feel proud... The senior guy accompanying our team got slightly upset and later on just whispered to me "good thing I got to the scoresheet first". 11-1.

It'd be nice to have feedback from Japanese people to know if you have ever witnessed or heard of this kind of "unspoken rule".
 
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I also think he was aiming just off the table, so as not to make it too obvious. This would have been quite a risky angle, too. And of course the ball landed...

In France at least it's a cultural thing, without it being mentioned. Playing as a junior I landed one of my fastest serves ever attempting to do just that, bang in the corner of the table. Sure didn't feel proud... The senior guy accompanying our team got slightly upset and later on just whispered to me "good thing I got to the scoresheet first". 11-1.

It'd be nice to have feedback from Japanese people to know if you have ever witnessed or heard of this kind of "unspoken rule".

nope they don't care about 11-0 here. Actually thats the kind of embarrassing i wish not to remember. I remember playing in a tournament last year a guy who was way too strong for me. In the last set, i was really fighting for every ball, i remember i had a few chances to kill the ball but i missed them, and now if you ask me i lost it 11-3 11-2 or 11-1 but the truth is it might have been 11-0 LOL... Nope no mercy points here.
 
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Ok. Note that the man I mentioned was quite old school, and so were the ones who had taught me to just not do that (as a kid especially, my first instinct sure would have been to go for the kill... I'm starting to wonder whether landing the serve despite the wild swing wasn't a case of conscious Vs. unconscious :eek:). Things might have changed.

Thanks, anyway. And I think we all know your taking the beating was merely a way to conduct a social experiment.;)
 
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We definitely do it here where I train in Finland. If someone were to forget about it, he would definitely get at least a bad look from his own teammates. It's perceived as rude not to do it. Of course, between friends in training I always take the opportunity to shout my lungs out "HA YOU GOT DESTROYED SON!!" j/k :D

If you asked me, Harimoto really does look like he wanted to give him a point but forgot about the score and realized it right when the ball hit the table -- or he accidentally hit the table when trying to overshoot or something. But then again Takkyu_wa_inochi said it's not a thing in Japan. Or then again it might not be a thing but Harimoto knows that it is in a lot of places internationally. I'd love to hear Harimoto himself on what he was doing there!
 
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I think its perfectly fine , in this case he was trying to lose it but it landed or he forgot the score. from my personal POV if I am losing 10-0, I deserve to lose 11-0, so I would rather have my opponent beat me 11-0 , for me thats less embarrassing . In fact, if somebody gives me a point at 10-0 , I would keep fighting for the next point and the next, because it was his prerogative to give the point and I would rather ignore the fact that I got a mercy point and rather put some points on the board to make it look the scores a little better. But then thats how I think ...

can't agree more, better beaten 10-0 then given a mercy point by the opponent
 
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I found myself in a rough spot during a match, being down 0-10. Things weren't looking great, but I told the other guy "Ok, I can't let you have anymore." He gave me a laugh.

I went on to win that game 12-10! I've seen Xu Xin come back to beat Jun Mitzutani after being down 10-4. That match was running through my mind during my come-back run. "Just remember what Xu Xin did..." And sure enough, I managed to do so the same. ;)

Mercy points are more insulting! Better to do exhibition points if anything. Hitting your ball into the net so the other guy can have a "1" next to his name, for a point he didn't earn, is more humiliating to me!
 
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It would be funny to find an older example when the sets were played until 21st point.
Maybe there is an example of 21-0 :D Now, that is called embarrassment!
 
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I would never give away a point, no matter what the score or who I play. Playing at high level, you get nothing for free, so I don't see the point with starting to give away things. I also think it would be quite rude to give a point, like telling your opponent "you're so bad you can't win your own points, here's a free one!"

Disrespectful in my opinion.
 
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I realized in a match last year vs an Indian player when I waz up 9-0 in first game I should give away a point (but be subtle about it) so I went Rambo wild low percentage, but my two wild shots landed and I had to tell Larry Hodges sorry for goose egging his student in an official tourney.

2 months later, same guy gained huge in a tourney and almost equaled my rating. That might be the last time I could goose egg him.
 
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I practice regularly with a guy way above my level. If, fortunately not very often, the score gets to 10-0 and he gives a point I give it back. This is the part that some don´t get - when given, return.

But basically I don´t see much difference between 11-1 and 11-0. One is a clear defeat, the other an embarassment?
 
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