Asian Games: China's Table Tennis Men Stunned by Japan in Team Final

The Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya delivered one of the biggest table tennis upsets in years on Friday, as Japan defeated China 3-2 to take the men’s team gold. Tomokazu Harimoto, Japan’s 23-year-old star, was the difference-maker, beating both Wen Ruibo and Olympic champion Wang Chuqin to secure two crucial points for his team.

For China, whose men’s team has long been the benchmark in the sport, the loss is a rare setback on a stage where it normally dominates. Harimoto celebrated on social media, posting a photo of his gold medal and another of the whole Japanese squad placing their medals around their coach’s neck — a gesture that quickly circulated among fans online.

China’s players had little time to dwell on the defeat. In the men’s singles round of 16, Wang Chuqin survived a scare against 16-year-old Thai prospect Tittaphat Prichayan, dropping the first game 3-11 before recovering to win 4-2. Lin Shidong, meanwhile, was far more comfortable, sweeping Macau’s Mai Tin Ian 4-0, including a run of ten straight points in the third game, to move into the last 16.

The day’s brightest moment for China came at the shooting range, where Liu Yukun won the men’s 50m rifle three-positions title with a dramatic final shot. Liu finished on 360.5 points, setting a new Asian Games record, with Tokyo Olympic champion Zhang Changhong taking silver just 0.3 points behind. A shooter from Kazakhstan claimed bronze. It was China’s 11th shooting gold of these Games.

There was disappointment in fencing, where China’s men’s foil team — Wei Qiao, Zeng Zhaoran and Xu Jie — lost 45-43 to Japan in the semifinals. Because the Asian Games fencing format awards two bronzes without a playoff, China still went home with a bronze medal. Skateboarding also brought a tough result: defending champion Chen Ye finished eighth in the men’s park bowl event with 49.12 points, while a Japanese skater took gold with 88.96.

In badminton, China’s men’s team fell to Indonesia in the team final, surrendering a two-match lead in a 3-2 defeat. Shi Yuqi, who won his singles rubber, said afterwards that he had focused on staying patient and tracking his opponent’s movement rather than forcing his own attack, a approach he felt improved his scoring efficiency after a patchy run of form.

Elsewhere at the Games, South Korea’s women’s football team advanced past Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals, building on a group stage in which they scored 12 goals and conceded only one. And in Chinese domestic football news, 31-year-old midfielder Yang Mingyang, born in Switzerland and now playing in Chengdu, made his debut for the China men’s national team in a match against the Maldives, writing on social media that representing the country was a great honor.

The table tennis team final will linger longest in memory. Japan’s victory does not end China’s tournament — its singles players remain in contention, and the sport’s deeper talent pool is unchanged — but it is a reminder that the gap at the top of world table tennis is narrowing, and that on a single afternoon, even the strongest teams can be beaten.