Japan had to settle for silver after losing 3-0 to powerhouse China on Saturday, August 10 in the final of the women's table tennis team event at the Paris Olympics.
The team of Manyu Wang, Meng Chen and Yingsha Sun powered China to its fifth straight title in the event.
Japan got off to a positive start at South Paris Arena 4 with Hina Hayata and Miwa Harimoto looking like they could pull off an upset in the first match. The won their first game but Wang and Chen came back for a 9-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-6, 12-10 win.
Hayata and Harimoto were leading 9-5 in the final game. But they couldn't hold on to the lead and lost it 12-10.
"It was our first time playing together in an official match and things started out well for us," Hayata said. "We had the lead and should have taken advantage but couldn't and that was regrettable."
China Table Tennis Team Takes a Command Lead
Sun then cruised to a 13-11, 11-6, 11-6 win over Miu Hirano and it was up to Harimoto to extend the contest when she faced Wang in the third match.
The 16-year-old Harimoto won the first game but Wang stormed back for a 12-14, 12-10, 11-7, 11-6 win.
Japan beat Germany 3-1 in the semifinals on Thursday to set up the showdown with longtime rival China in the final.
The last time these two teams met was at the 2024 ITF World Team Table Tennis Championships in Busan, South Korea, in February. China beat Japan 3-2 to extend its world team title streak to six.
Experienced Player Ito Left Off Japan's Olympic Team
Before the Olympics, the Japan Table Tennis Association made the somewhat controversial decision to pick Harimoto over Mima Ito.
Harimoto is the younger sister of Tomokazu, a key member of Japan's men's team which lost to France 3-2 on Friday in the men's team bronze-medal match.
Ito has been a mainstay on the women's team over the years and collected three different medals at the Tokyo Games in 2021, winning mixed doubles gold, team silver and singles bronze.
Ito (10th) is higher than Harimoto (16th) in the world rankings as of January 30.
But the Japanese federation opted to go with Harimoto, who came close to upsetting world champion Sun at the WTT Finals in December 2023 in Nagoya, losing three games to two.
At the Tokyo Olympics, Japan won silver in the women's team event and claimed bronze in the men's team competition. China won gold in both events in Tokyo.
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Author: Jim Armstrong
The author is a longtime journalist who has covered sports in Japan for over 25 years. You can find his articles on SportsLook.
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