The 13 year old boy wonder has done it! Tomokazu Harimoto becomes the youngest ever Junior Boys World Champion in Cape Town, South Africa!
Tomokazu Harimoto falls to the floor in celebration! - Photo by: ITTF Flickr!
The young Japanese superstar Harimoto, who burst onto the scene last year by beating multiple senior world top 100 players, defied the odds again by becoming the youngest ever player to win the world junior championships. The previous record was set way back in 2006 by Harimoto’s Japanese compatriot Kenta Matsudaira who was 15 at the time.
In the final Tomokazu Harimoto faced a tough test against an inform Cho Seungmin fresh off victories in both the boys and mixed doubles finals. Cho Seungmin, who is 5 years Harimoto’s elder, stormed into an early 2-0 lead. Harimoto quickly levelled the match and then pulled ahead, going 3-2 up. Seungmin then re-levelled the match to take the final into a nerve wracking 7th and final set. The vocal youngster Harimoto upped his game again in the deciding set, taking it 11-7.
Tomokazu had this to say after the match in an interview with the ITTF:
“I was shouting to psyche myself up because this is the first and the last chance for me to win the title and I didn’t want to lose it. It was a difficult title for me to win in South Africa. The fact that I am the youngest player to win a world title never crossed my mind but I am so excited that I set this new record as the youngest in table tennis to win a world title”
What an incredible achievement, winning the 2016 World Junior Championships! For all the latest news, results and videos from the Junior Championships click here. To catch up on all the latest highlighted matches from the World Champs visit our Media Library.
Like and tweet our articles to the World. Lets spread the word of Table Tennis.
Written by: Thomas Jeffcott
TableTennisDaily

Tomokazu Harimoto falls to the floor in celebration! - Photo by: ITTF Flickr!
The young Japanese superstar Harimoto, who burst onto the scene last year by beating multiple senior world top 100 players, defied the odds again by becoming the youngest ever player to win the world junior championships. The previous record was set way back in 2006 by Harimoto’s Japanese compatriot Kenta Matsudaira who was 15 at the time.
In the final Tomokazu Harimoto faced a tough test against an inform Cho Seungmin fresh off victories in both the boys and mixed doubles finals. Cho Seungmin, who is 5 years Harimoto’s elder, stormed into an early 2-0 lead. Harimoto quickly levelled the match and then pulled ahead, going 3-2 up. Seungmin then re-levelled the match to take the final into a nerve wracking 7th and final set. The vocal youngster Harimoto upped his game again in the deciding set, taking it 11-7.
Tomokazu had this to say after the match in an interview with the ITTF:
“I was shouting to psyche myself up because this is the first and the last chance for me to win the title and I didn’t want to lose it. It was a difficult title for me to win in South Africa. The fact that I am the youngest player to win a world title never crossed my mind but I am so excited that I set this new record as the youngest in table tennis to win a world title”
What an incredible achievement, winning the 2016 World Junior Championships! For all the latest news, results and videos from the Junior Championships click here. To catch up on all the latest highlighted matches from the World Champs visit our Media Library.
Like and tweet our articles to the World. Lets spread the word of Table Tennis.
Written by: Thomas Jeffcott
TableTennisDaily