TABLE TENNIS PRODIGY
Ping pong kid Tomokazu Harimoto eyes Olympics
The reigning Junior World Champion still has time to match his compatriot Mima Ito
New Delhi — A 13-year-old Japanese table tennis prodigy has set his sights on the Tokyo Olympics after he narrowly failed to become the youngest champion in World Tour history here. The 14th seed Tomokazu Harimoto lost to top seed Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany 11-6 11-8 11-4 14-12 in the India Open final and took the defeat as his stepping stone to success. "Was amazing to have such a run to my first World Tour final at 13 years old," Harimoto said. "I am disappointed not to win today, but I will use this event as motivation to go home and train even harder to get my first World Tour win and then move on to my overall goal, which is Tokyo 2020 success." Though the reigning Junior World Champion still has time to match his compatriot Mima Ito, who won the women’s singles title in Germany in 2015 at 14 years and 152 days. AFP
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