Opinion | Tokyo 2020: Tomokazu Harimoto leads Japan’s hopes of first Olympic table tennis gold
- Tokyo 2020 will be debut Olympics for 16-year-old world No 5 Tomokazu Harimoto
- Japan’s rise since first medal at London 2012 is biggest threat to China dominance of ‘national sport’
Gone are the days of ping-pong diplomacy – table tennis at Tokyo 2020 will be war and China do not want to lose.
Chinese stars have won the 12 golds on offer at the last three Olympic Games and this year they will target five more now mixed doubles is being added to the programme.
They have good reason to be confident, judging by the rankings. In the singles, the top four men are Chinese, while all but one of the top seven women are from China. A Chinese pair also top the mixed doubles rankings, while the team are first on both the men’s and women’s standings.
The bigger dilemma for China is to decide who makes the cut. With all the talent at their disposal they still only have three spots for the men’s and women’s teams, with two of the team allowed to compete in the singles.
While Ma Long, who won his third back-to-back world championship last April, is expected to be a shoo-in, world number one Fan Zhendong, Rio 2016 gold medallist Xu Xin, and the doubles pair of Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan cannot all head to Japan.