Harimoto fell to Iran's Noshad Alamiān 3-4 (9-11, 7-11, 11-3, 6-11, 16-14, 11-6, 9-11) in the men's singles quarterfinals of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held at Sky Hall Toyota in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on Sept. 26.
It was an unexpected upset. The gap in their world rankings was a staggering 340 places. Harimoto is ranked 4th globally, while Alamiān is 344th. However, Alamiān, a 2018 Asian Games bronze medalist, proved to be a formidable opponent beyond mere rankings. He ended Japan's ace's medal challenge with his powerful backhand.
At this point, Team Japan is out of contention for the Asian Games table tennis men's singles semifinals.
The Asian Games table tennis men's singles semifinals are set:
Wang Chuqin vs Alamiān
Lin Shidong vs Lin Yun-Ju
Related News:
Asian Games | Sun Yingsha advances to women's singles semifinals: Face Hina Hayata
Asian Games | Wang Chuqin beats Feng Yi-hsin in straight sets to reach semifinals
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