Highlights | Fan Zhendong (CHN) vs Tomokazu Harimoto (JPN) | MT SF |  

He is playing as world number one. He has grown, is stronger and more muscular. Fan Zhendong now has a big rival.

up to now ... 😁

im happy for him. i know people hate that he screams so load. but all in all, he is a really fair player who has just a big will. thats why he screams every point. he let his emotions flow. for beeing mentally strong, its a big +.

I think the better form of the day decided, let's see if Harimoto can keep up this strong performance. He screamed his way to victory like every point was a match point! Hopefully this won't be repeated...

@@rudylion1469 yes. in an interview he said: for him is every point as important as the first or last one. i mean, theoretically hes right, even a 10:0 can be lost 10:12…his messages with that is just: its over when its over and not only when you mind is thinking the set is secure oder unsecure to win. like i said, thats a mentally thing why he does the scream every point. he will do this forever, so don’t think he will change for those who hates his screaming:D yes ofcourse the better form decides who will win. and your mentally fitness is a huge part of that. the screaming gets him mentally stronger.

Adam said that in the commentary of this match, it was 2001 in the semi finals against South Korea. And the last time they lost a match was 2014 Dima vs. Zhang Jike

Kong Linghui lost his 2 matches against Korea in 2001.

You're right decades!

@@pengin6035 You mean losing a title in big tournaments? Cuz that wasn’t the closest match China lost

2014: The last time they lost a match in teams 2001: The last time they had won in a decider match(3-2 against South Korea) 2000: The last time they actually lost in the team event

noise tactics. FZD should wear an apple watch.

I think that enthusiasm is very normal when you play against a higher rank (#1 ) player and really want to win. I feel the same at least.

Don’t forget the politic tension between the two countries and the pride they are fighting for.

@@sed9406 would still probably loose to Harimoto in current form. He is an Waldner level threat to Chinese now

@@johnng5016 exactly, rival beyond arena

Total RESPECT! This single performance is a watershed moment. Chinese TEAM is the strongest but player? Hmmm.... GAME ON!

Fun apart: Harimoto is a also a Chinese player

@@shariful-islam-2008 Just has Chinese blood, his homeland is Japan

Time to buy harimotos blade :p

There are Chinese blood around the world. Harimoto has grown up, raised and trained in Japan all along. He is obviously Japanese. If you judge by that so Qui Dang is not German but Chinese? Common man.

In anyone’s career it would be

not everyone is even close to win agains fan ;)

@@ps0freak Even Ma Long or ....?

@@TareqAstroPhoton not everyone means just a few have the ability. of course ma long is one of them 😅

It has zero impact on the tournament result. How is the narrow win a landmark win? He still must prove himself by winning a world champion or gold medal.

This other player, Harimoto, is ethnically Chinese. So, he's a Chinese-Japanese citizen living in Japan.

@@cuongtkong58没必要说这个，他就是日本人，日本的选手。还是要我们自己强大。

@@piercejiang6602 Sorry, I don't know how to read Chinese. But if you can reply back in English, then we can talk.

@@cuongtkong58 Basically what he said was "Let's not talk about this ethnicity. He is a Japanese citizen now representing Japan. At the end of the day we still need to be strong by ourselves (and not use ethnicity I guess)"

@@shortBP520 Thank you for your translation. But I absolutely disagree with his comment. The only reason anyone who wouldn't want to talk about one's ethnicity is if one is embarrassed by it. Ethnicity just tells people who you are and who your ancestors are. It doesn't matter where you're born, live, or die. If your parents are Chinese, then you're a Chinese. It doesn't matter which country you go to, you can become a citizen of that country. But ethnically, you are who your parents are. You can't change that. There's a big difference between ethnicity and nationality. For those who don't understand the difference, you can look up those words on the internet.

Totally....

Harimoto is nothing like a normal foreign player. He's Chinese origin with Chinese table tennis parents who trained him in Chinese methods.

@thomasov2004 He has Japanese citizenship but his parents are Chinese.

That dude is Chinese..

Harimoto is a Chinese with Japanese citizenship from 2014… Harimoto’s parents were both Chinese professional table tennis players from Sichuan. But still great match!

Fight hard for victory means that you win. Fan lost lol

@@yangtzesen9699 He was born in Japan, and lived and trained in Japan his whole life, so it definitely counts as a win for Japanese table tennis.

⁠Hope the Japanese still sees him the same, now that two Olympics have gone by, even Lebrun and Moregardh are playing better.

And we will probably see better and better Truls Moregard and maybe Milosz Redzimski from Poland.

@@zencosuzuki8496 And Lebrun brothers from France i hope.

@@TareqAstroPhoton Yes, they're a revelation of this season.

Just for this time. You will see him defeated badly by a unfamous European player soon. He was not himself yesterday. His performance was just beyond his normal capability and won't last long. I watched a video last night, in which he was defeated badly by his teamate. That just happened not long ago this year.

I don't think so. Harimoto is the best player when he is aggressive. Yesterday, his performance was the most aggressive since he started playing table tennis. He must continue winning!

@@user-ix1zm9li6i Let's see ~~

@@piercejiang6602 素直に勝ちを認めましょうね

@@piercejiang6602 man People can always get improved Don t underestimate his real potential

"more":)

@@zencosuzuki8496 thank you ;)

@@GoGo333 No problem :)

@@FreeSpeech181 You can see this is how he is.

No wonder why english subs are better than english dubs...

Yes the strongest player of all time

He isn't prime fzd what are you talking about. His knee is all taped up for example.

@@gamma9141 now that would be ma long if we are talking about all time

@@zr5438 i don't think that is a major injury, it wasn't in any of the news too. He may not be in his best form but I'm talking about prime here, not the best form, those are 2 different things.

@@deepbhadja5730 Harimoto beat Patrik Fran who beat ma long so Harimoto is on fire rn

I always watch Harimoto on mute :D I know he has no bad intentions with the extreme pushing himself and this were some of the most important matches of his life but it tilts me so hard.

I was thinking after the first point he made, the match would be over.

@@lukaspaulus6408 he grown up already, his voice becomes deeper and not that annoying as when he was a teenager :)

not CHOO! but TOOOO! in this match.

Dunno, Lebrun already beat FZD and small Lebrun is insane and only 16

@@maxk880 thosae lebruns are a force to recon with!!! I love that felix plays penhold he and dang qiu are singlehandedly keeping penhold alive hopefully will inspire more players to start learning penhold. I started with pen but recently switched to shakehand and found much faster improvement (I am self taught without a coach) but I am now wishing i hadn't switched because I feel like I wont be able to go back to penhold now that I've adjusted to the shakehand backhand. the movement is just so different, but my backhand rpb punch used to be incredible when I could hit it. Its just that shakehand has made me way more consistant since I am much more aware of the racket angle and when I make a mistake.

Sichuan is his hometown

@@xgh5495不要自作多情，人家就是个日本仔。

@@piercejiang6602 his parents are descendants of Japan.

@@xgh5495 Lol, isnthat chinese nationalism? Cute

"Suck" is a strong word. You and I also suck at in every dimension regarding table tennis 😅

He changed a new chinese coach

Yeah, OK. That's why they put Ma Long on position 3. They avoided the match between him and Tomokazu

that patch on the leg of FZD may has something to do with the "another gear"

@@ttime9947 LoL, people like you were screaming on every corner this is the best player, and now you cry about CNT didn't put Ma Long against Harimoto. What a hypocrisy.

FZD should drop 15 kilos.

@@maksimbaranov8305 ??

you know whats up cuz, eric chen dont know shit

YOU KNOW WHATS UP FK ERIC CHEN

Ахаха 😹 Как в далекой молодости 😂

в юности более пассивную игру вёл, скорее больше от защиты. Сейчас у него более агресивный теннис и если раньше он играл больше блоком, разводя на углам, то сейчас зачастую не играет от защиты,а агрессивно отвечает.

You talk like he's an old man

Adik perempuannya juga sangat cantik, cepat, cerdas, jenius seperti dia,, Miwa Harimoto juga akan jadi Ratu Pingpong dunia; No.1

That's why Fan lost. Harimoto's backhand is much better than his forehand. But Fan's backhand is also super so he believes he can win through backhand rally exchange even he used his forehand against Harimoto's forehand to win easily in the second game. Fan made a bad decision but not his fault as usually his backhand has no match and he has the muscle memory. But today he has met a person whose backhand is better than his.

What are you talking about "mistakes". Fan is having to adapt to the new Harimoto. This is probably the first time he even had to witness this level of play. Nah... Fan had a LEARNING EXPERIENCE. And Fan should be thankful. Thankful there is someone that will push him to stay #1. No guarantees anymore!

@@walterpoelzing9412 Fan did well on the second game, in which he mainly used his forehand vs forehand. But I guess his muscle memory is to mainly use the backhand since his backhand is usually dominant against other players.

Exactly, power vs. power Fan will win, so Harimoto dodging and play another style to overcome of Fan's power, what a tactics, good job.

Hey.... when you are in the Lion's Den. You have to roar more than the Lion.

there are only 3 non Chinse players who beat Fan after he is over 17: Harimoto, Hugo and Dima.

@@MrCooperscoopers, no. Jeong Youngsik and Patrick Franziska beat him in 2019. But to be fair, that was during a period in which Fan's performance generally was not where it has been before that period and since.

@@Benjamin-w41 Oh my bad.

дракон - это ma Long)

@@pavelizotov6312 ma Long уже дедушка

@@user-hb6qf2iq3h это Самсонов и Валднер дедушки :))) но Ma уже не молод, это факт

Немного везения и удачи…

I would like to see the game Ionescu- FZD.

Great comment. Ionescu flies under the radar. Way to show some Romanian love. That country knows how to play the game.

This is a Team tournament, later in the world Championship singles and Cup and Asian Cup we will see if he can win, then he can deserve the #1 ranking.

problem is an understatement XD

@@hope2974 he knows that you 🤡🤡. Do you know meaning of “understatement “

I actually think Harimoto is at 120% and FZD is at his 100% ish lol

Exactly and what's worrisome is they are not changing it