Harimoto defeats Fan Zhendong | Asian Cup 2018

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No one saw that coming! And no one saw that happen either :)
Liu Guoliang predicted a six year battle coming up between Tomo and Little Fatty in which Tomo will establish his dominance as number one if the Japanese coaches can continue to guide him. He pointed out that it is both Tomo's natural abilities and the intense Chinese training Tomo received from 3 years old onwards from his two professional Chinese parents that makes him so strong.
 
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pingfun you dont know nothing if you think harimoto is not training full time. your nickname tells the whole history. your post is a joke
 
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How u know he doesnt practice full time?? These victories certainly are the result of hard trainings .

Harimoto himself confirmed in an interview ("Ask a pro anything") with Bobrow last year that he "only" practices 3 - 4 hours a day... (from minute 1.30 on)
 
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Harimoto himself confirmed in an interview ("Ask a pro anything") with Bobrow last year that he "only" practices 3 - 4 hours a day... (from minute 1.30 on)

How many players do you know who practice 3-4 hours a day? That is professional level no matter how you down play it. The verbal report also lacks credibility as it doesn't reflect intensity or how he decides when he feels like doing more or less...
 
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Liu Guoliang predicted a six year battle coming up between Tomo and Little Fatty in which Tomo will establish his dominance as number one if the Japanese coaches can continue to guide him. He pointed out that it is both Tomo's natural abilities and the intense Chinese training Tomo received from 3 years old onwards from his two professional Chinese parents that makes him so strong.
Tomo play style definitely Japanese though. That upright backhand block is the giveaway. :)

Sent from my i5E using Tapatalk
 
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pingfun you dont know nothing if you think harimoto is not training full time. your nickname tells the whole history. your post is a joke

Are u okey ?? You have problem in your eyes . Pls read carefully what i wrote and dont jump in posts like u know alot which is funnier .

What i wrote : How u know he doesnt practice full time?? These victories certainly are the result of hard trainings .
 
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says Any body knows when will be the next Asia Pacific...
says Any body knows when will be the next Asia Pacific...
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let wait until the tournament finish first to see who are the best
 
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How u know he doesnt practice full time?? These victories certainly are the result of hard trainings .

I'm going to warn you in advance. It's going to be a long post.

How do I know? Well, I've been involved with U12 scene in Japan for 10 years due to my daughter's involvement as a competitive junior player. There are lots of people who know better but I think I know more than the most.

First of all, I don't believe in practicing long hours. Training hard with good coaches and partners is necessary and you'd choose quality over quantity if you had to make a choice. Having said that, putting certain numbers of practice hours is a must for top players as coaches in this forum would agree.

Before I get into Harimoto's practice routine, let me explain the current U12 scene in Japan.

In Japan, the National tournament is held every year for U12/U10/U8 categories. Top players in U12 are then recruited by private school and Elite Academy. 99% of current top players have performed well in these tournaments (notable exception is Oshima). The importance of practicing long hard hours from very young age have been recognized ever since Ai Fukuhara's practice with her mum was televised 25 years ago. According to the survey conducted at U12 national tournament a few years ago, more than half of the participants practice more than 20 hours per week, 20% have put in 30+ hours and few have even clocked 40+. And that's with either your parents or hired coach from China (eg. Matsudaira, Hirano, Ito).

My daughter's club didn't have that luxury, just like most other junior clubs in Japan. Sure she practiced 4 hours in a week day and 6 hours in the weekend but she was always beaten by kids that were privately coached or had parents who owned junior club themselves.

So when Harimoto won U8 tournament aged 7 (back then he was Zhang with Chinese nationality), we were like "Right, another kid with Chinese parents who devoted their life to their kids". But the fact was quite different as we got to know about them more and more by talking to them occasionally or hearing about them when we see them at the tournaments.

It turns out, he was closer to "us" than "them" in terms of environment. His parents were hired by Sendai junior club as a full time coach so they didn't have time to teach Harimoto privately except for their off days when they spend about an hour with him. We didn't believe them at first. How could a boy so exceptionally good and absolutely dominates his age group only practice 2 hours a day and even that's with other members of his club so he has to pick the balls and share the table just like everyone else. Well, they weren't lying and by the time he won the national tournament 6 years in a row in 2015(beating a boy from my club on the way), no one was sure of how far he would go when he starts devoting all his time to table tennis. That year, he was already beating U18 national champion as well as some top senior player in Japan.

That almost happened in 2016 when he had to make a choice after graduating primary school. In the end he chose the Elite Academy which was and still is funded by JOC and other governing bodies. Because it's state funded, minimum academic standard must be met and you need to attend unrelated course and seminar such as media presentation organized by the Elite Academy. It means that typical week day only allows 2-3 hours of practice. This is a stark contrast from top private schools in Japan where scouted players finish school on 2pm and practice 6 to 8 hours per day. It was no surprise that until Harimoto and Hirano, there were hardly any top players produced by the Elite Academy. Players like Hirano and Miu Kato probably made a right choice by leaving the Academy before the age limit of 18.

So, back to my original statement. I'm looking forward to the day he graduates Elite Academy and devotes all his time playing table tennis. He has already achieved more than most players on this planet even if he retires today. I somehow feel there's lot more to come.
 
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Fzd’ Loss just makes it more interesting. There is a good chance they’ll meet again in the final if Harimoto can beat lgy. You’ll see the real fzd
 
Harimoto himself confirmed in an interview ("Ask a pro anything") with Bobrow last year that he "only" practices 3 - 4 hours a day... (from minute 1.30 on)

Yes, and at 5.20 he says that he will work harder than he did when he was 13.
So now he is practicing 3-4 hours a day, and till 13 he has been practicing less.
 
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Fzd’ Loss just makes it more interesting. There is a good chance they’ll meet again in the final if Harimoto can beat lgy. You’ll see the real fzd

Will the real slim shady please stand up in the final !!!! But either way history has been made. Only foreigner that FZD lost to for a long long time was Dima and that one was hard fought match. This is unprecedented. I remember LGL's comments during WTTC FZD vs HM that FZD is showing HM who is the big bro. This is like Hirano moment for CNT Men's team.
 
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