Thread about Japanese Players

[Catenaccio]

My predictions for the line-ups of the Women's final. My guess is that China will win 3:1.

Japan
(1) Harimoto
(2) Hayata
(3) Hashimoto

China
(1) SYS
(2) WMY
(3) KM

 

[Catenaccio]

My predictions for the line-ups of the Men's final. Harimoto is 6-2 vs LSD so far. He has a losing record against LJK, but he won their last match at the ATTC 2025. Difficult to predict the result imo.

Japan
(1) Harimoto
(2) Matsushima
(3) Togami

China
(1) WCQ
(2) LJK
(3) LSD

 

[Janard]

My predictions for the line-ups of the Men's final. Harimoto is 6-2 vs LSD so far. He has a losing record against LJK, but he won their last match at the ATTC 2025. Difficult to predict the result imo.

Japan
(1) Harimoto
(2) Matsushima
(3) Togami

China
(1) WCQ
(2) LJK
(3) LSD

I think LJK will still be #3

 

[Catenaccio]

I think LJK will still be #3

Maharu Yoshimura agrees with your prediction

 

[Catenaccio]

My predictions for the line-ups of the Men's final. Harimoto is 6-2 vs LSD so far. He has a losing record against LJK, but he won their last match at the ATTC 2025. Difficult to predict the result imo.

Japan
(1) Harimoto
(2) Matsushima
(3) Togami

China
(1) WCQ
(2) LJK
(3) LSD

 

[pongfugrasshopper]

Miwa moves up 2 spots to WR#3. Hina moves back into the top 10 at WR#10. Honoka moves up a spot to WR#14. Togami moves up 3 spots to WR#15.

 

[NextLevel]

View attachment 41534

Japan lost despite having ABC - I guess ABC is both a curse and a blessing, a blessing if your A player wins and a curse if he doesn't.

 

[Catenaccio]

2026 Asian Table Tennis Championships and 2027 World Table Tennis Championships (Individual Events) Asian Continental Qualifying Tournament: Selection Trials for the Japanese Men's and Women's National Teams to be held on 26-27 May.

You can find the list of participants here. Notable absences (assuming I didn't make a mistake) on the women's side include Ito, Odo, and Sato. I guess Ito is not interested in playing for the national team anymore. Both Odo and Sato are registered to play the Contender Lagos (19-24 May) and maybe that's why they are not participating (imo, Odo is likely to be selected via world ranking). However, Hashimoto is scheduled to play both the Contender Lagos and the selection trial. Btw, Harimoto is already qualified as the current All-Japan champion so she won't participate.

 

[mikeytt]

2026 Asian Table Tennis Championships and 2027 World Table Tennis Championships (Individual Events) Asian Continental Qualifying Tournament: Selection Trials for the Japanese Men's and Women's National Teams to be held on 26-27 May.

You can find the list of participants here. Notable absences (assuming I didn't make a mistake) on the women's side include Ito, Odo, and Sato. I guess Ito is not interested in playing for the national team anymore. Both Odo and Sato are registered to play the Contender Lagos (19-24 May) and maybe that's why they are not participating (imo, Odo is likely to be selected via world ranking). However, Hashimoto is scheduled to play both the Contender Lagos and the selection trial. Btw, Harimoto is already qualified as the current All-Japan champion so she won't participate.

thanks for sharing, do you have any idea how the selection process works? For example Hayata and hashimoto are 2 staples of the NT yet have to qualify, but harimoto and togami who are in quite similar positions for the mens team (didnt win nationals) aren't here

 

[Janard]

thanks for sharing, do you have any idea how the selection process works? For example Hayata and hashimoto are 2 staples of the NT yet have to qualify, but harimoto and togami who are in quite similar positions for the mens team (didnt win nationals) aren't here

The participation is voluntary from what I understand i.e. Hayata chose to play this qualification even though she might be able to qualify via WR by the cutoff date. I guess it is keeping options open whereas Odo is betting it all on her WR. I'm not sure.

 

[Catenaccio]

thanks for sharing, do you have any idea how the selection process works? For example Hayata and hashimoto are 2 staples of the NT yet have to qualify, but harimoto and togami who are in quite similar positions for the mens team (didnt win nationals) aren't here

https://jtta.s3.ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/24143755/2026AC_2027WTTC_selection_251225_260219_260224.pdf

Selection Method for Men’s and Women’s Team and Singles Representatives (Maximum Quota: 5 players each for men and women)
① The top 3 Japanese players in the world rankings during the week that includes the 14th day prior to the final entry deadline for the Asian Championships
② The winner of the Japanese National Qualifying Tournament for the Asian Championships (hereinafter referred to as the “Qualifying Tournament”)
③ The winner of the singles competition in the Open Division at the 2026 All-Japan Championships
④ If there are overlapping players selected from items ① through ③ above and the total number of players does not meet the maximum quota, players will be selected in the following order:
Japanese players ranked highest in the singles world rankings for the week containing the 14th day prior to the final entry deadline for the Asian Championships, excluding those already selected under item ①

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

 

[Catenaccio]

thanks for sharing, do you have any idea how the selection process works? For example Hayata and hashimoto are 2 staples of the NT yet have to qualify, but harimoto and togami who are in quite similar positions for the mens team (didnt win nationals) aren't here

• Harimoto is already qualified, see ③
• Imo, Hayata, Odo, and Hashimoto will qualify via world ranking, see ① (Harimoto is the highest ranked, but she is already qualified)
• The winner of the selection tournament, see ②. If it's someone who qualified via world ranking, then the next highest ranked person will be selected, see ④

Tomokazu Harimoto and Togami will most likely qualify via world ranking and that why they decided not to play. There is more competition on the women's side imo.

 

[NextLevel]

2026 Asian Table Tennis Championships and 2027 World Table Tennis Championships (Individual Events) Asian Continental Qualifying Tournament: Selection Trials for the Japanese Men's and Women's National Teams to be held on 26-27 May.

You can find the list of participants here. Notable absences (assuming I didn't make a mistake) on the women's side include Ito, Odo, and Sato. I guess Ito is not interested in playing for the national team anymore. Both Odo and Sato are registered to play the Contender Lagos (19-24 May) and maybe that's why they are not participating (imo, Odo is likely to be selected via world ranking). However, Hashimoto is scheduled to play both the Contender Lagos and the selection trial. Btw, Harimoto is already qualified as the current All-Japan champion so she won't participate.

This is interesting because I thought for some reason that the Asian Table Tennis Champs had the same qualifier as the 2026 London WTTTC.

Since Hina is playing, not sure it is smart for Odo not to play, but that said, if they are to stay consistent, it is very hard to find Japanese players with wins over Wang Manyu and Chen Yi so they really have tied themselves into a tough spot with their previous justification for selecting Miyu Nagasaki since wins over Wang Yidi are far more common.

On the men's side, good to see Tanigaki is playing, hopefully he finishes the job this time and gets eliminated with a loss or qualifies.

 

[Bollwerk]

This is interesting because I thought for some reason that the Asian Table Tennis Champs had the same qualifier as the 2026 London WTTTC.

It's the Asian Games that uses the same qualifier as WTTTC, can get confusing with all Asian continental events happening this year. Both Odo and Hashimoto are not in the lineup for that one btw, even though they were the first in line for the 5th spot's criteria (?)

 

[NextLevel]

It's the Asian Games that uses the same qualifier as WTTTC, can get confusing with all Asian continental events happening this year. Both Odo and Hashimoto are not in the lineup for that one btw, even though they were the first in line for the 5th spot's criteria (?)

Ito just took the spot that she was qualified for by World Ranking so only one of Nagasaki or Hashimoto could make the team. Would be interesting to know what determined the choice between Hashimoto and Nagasaki.

 

[Bollwerk]

Ito just took the spot that she was qualified for by World Ranking so only one of Nagasaki or Hashimoto could make the team. Would be interesting to know what determined the choice between Hashimoto and Nagasaki.

I get Ito's spot, my question was just about the last one that Nagasaki got. The translation of the criteria i read sounded like if there's overlap in the top 2 WR and the event winners (Miwa) that 5th spot should go to the next highest WR (which would be Odo, ahead of Hashimoto). Or is it just saying selection from top ranked players?

 

[NextLevel]

I get Ito's spot, my question was just about the last one that Nagasaki got. The translation of the criteria i read sounded like if there's overlap in the top 2 WR and the event winners (Miwa) that 5th spot should go to the next highest WR (which would be Odo, ahead of Hashimoto). Or is it just saying selection from top ranked players?

The criteria I heard/read is that anything not filled by trials, top 3 ranked players and national champion is then filled by coaches(Strengthening Committee) selection. Since Miwa, Ito, Hayata, Mende filled top 3 + Trials, whatever is left is coaches(Strengthening Committee) selection. Usually such committees defer to rankings/objective criteria but they are not the same.

 

[NextLevel]

Yoshimura just won the 2026 Feeder in Instanbul.

 

[pongfugrasshopper]

It's a risk, but I think Satsuki is likely to remain in the top 3 Japanese women. She's top seed at Contender Lagos next week and Contender Skopje in June. And perhaps with Hina playing less (passing on Lagos and Skopje), she wants to enter the selection tournament to secure a spot for the Asian Championships.

 

[zeio]

This is interesting because I thought for some reason that the Asian Table Tennis Champs had the same qualifier as the 2026 London WTTTC.

Since Hina is playing, not sure it is smart for Odo not to play, but that said, if they are to stay consistent, it is very hard to find Japanese players with wins over Wang Manyu and Chen Yi so they really have tied themselves into a tough spot with their previous justification for selecting Miyu Nagasaki since wins over Wang Yidi are far more common.

On the men's side, good to see Tanigaki is playing, hopefully he finishes the job this time and gets eliminated with a loss or qualifies.

Coincidentally, Odo is the only top JNT player to not have met WYD up to this day. Until Odo runs into her and actually wins, it's moot to "interpolate" her odds. What's certain though is that Nagasaki wouldn't have had the chance to beat WYD at Asian Cup 2026 had Odo filled the opening. Lastly, Nagasaki's win came before the deadline, whereas Odo's win came after both the deadline and selection trial, the latter of which is even "less meaningful" than Hayata's win over LSW at Portugal Open 2019, which came weeks after the deadline but weeks before the selection trial for WTTC 2019 where she lost to Kato.

OTOH, Nagasaki is 2W4L against CY (1 senior win [last meeting at WTT SCT Ljubljana 2025] and 1 junior win [only meeting at WJTTC 2019 where Nagasaki became the only non-CNT champion]) and came quite close (2-1 -> 2-3) against eventual finalist WMY at Europe Smash 2025.

p.s.
As much as I backed Hayata back in the day, rules were rules (a little over a month after her win over LSW but Hirano and Sato had already been picked instead). Coincidentally, Hayata and Nagasaki were recommended by JTTA for WTTC 2018, their debut edition.

Liu Shiwen vs Hina Hayata | 2019 ITTF Challenge Plus Portugal Open Highlights ( R16 )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CH4_9dforU

世界卓球2019ブダペスト 代表4名が決定
https://www.butterfly.co.jp/takurepo/topics/detail/012341.html

　3人目に選ばれた平野は、2018年1月以降の主要国際大会の実績と内容を評価。世界ランキング30位以内の選手に4名に勝利し、日本人選手の中で世界ランキングが3番目に高い点が評価された。馬場監督は「アジア選手権大会チャンピオンで、前回の世界選手権大会で3位になっています。平野選手の特徴である非常に速い高速卓球は中国に通用する部分でもあります。今後もその部分を強化しながら、世界選手権での活躍を期待しています」と語った。

　4人目の佐藤も2018年1月以降の主要国際大会の実績と内容を評価。平野と同じく、世界ランキング30位以内の選手に4名に勝利している。「非常に守備範囲が広く、世界のトップ級の守備範囲を持っています。加えて、昨年から攻撃力を高める努力をしているように見受けられる。カット + 攻撃を磨いて世界選手権で活躍してほしい」と馬場監督は期待を述べた。