is a Japanese professional table tennis player. Born to Chinese parents, he became a naturalized Japanese citizen in 2014. He won the world junior singles and team title at the 2016 World Junior Table Tennis Championships for Japan.
In August 2017, he became the youngest ever winner of an ITTF World Tour men's singles title, winning the Czech Open title at the age of 14 years and 61 days. In December 2018, he became the youngest player to win the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals at the age of 15 years and 172 days.
Personal life Tomokazu Harimoto was born as Zhang Zhihe in Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture, to Chinese descent. His father, Yu Harimoto (born Zhang Yu), and mother, Rin Harimoto (born Zhang Ling) are both former professional table tennis players from Sichuan, China. Rin Harimoto, at the peak of her career, represented the Chinese national team at the 1995 World Table Tennis Championships in Tianjin. They moved from China to Japan in 1998. He and his younger sister Miwa (born Zhang Meihe) were both taught to play table tennis by their parents from a young age with the intention of pursuing professional careers.
Harimoto began playing table tennis at the age of two. To compete in the All Japan Championships, he needed Japanese nationality. Consequently, his father and sister chose to become Japanese citizens as well. While in fourth grade, he was naturalized as a Japanese citizen in 2014 and legally changed his name from Zhang Zhihe to Tomokazu Harimoto. His mother was later naturalized in 2021.
In April 2022, Harimoto announced he will be attending Waseda University School of Human Sciences after graduating from Nihon University Senior High School.
Career Junior career Harimoto first won the All-Japan Table Tennis Championships Juniors title in 2010 as a first grader. He would continue to win the tournament for all 6 years of his elementary school years. In 2015, he was chosen to represent Japan at the World Junior Table Tennis Championships in France, becoming the youngest Japanese player to be chosen. However, due to the November 2015 Paris attacks, Harimoto was not able to participate in the tournament.
Aged 12 years and 355 days, Harimoto defeated seasoned professionals Ho Kwan Kit, Hugo Calderano, and teammate Kohei Sambe to win the 2016 U-21 Japan Open title. With the win, he became the youngest winner ITTF World Tour under-21 men's singles title. Later that year, Harimoto won gold medals in the boys' singles and teams events at the World Junior Table Tennis Championships in Cape Town, South Africa. This win was historic, as Harimoto became the youngest winner of the World Junior Championships aged 13 years and 163 days. Harimoto achieved an Under-21 ranking of No. 10 in the world in December 2016.
2017 Harimoto began the year in February at the recently revamped India Open. He reached the finals with victories over Álvaro Robles, Sakai Asuka, Robert Gardos, and local favorite Sharath Kamal, before losing to defending champion Dimitrij Ovtcharov in straight sets.
2018 In June 2018, Harimoto shocked the world by winning first place in the ITTF World Tour Japan Open, after beating Olympic champions Ma Long in the semifinal and Zhang Jike in the final. He was just short of 15 years old when he won the title. Later in the year, Harimoto continued to win the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in Incheon, South Korea, where he defeated Lin Gaoyuan 4-1 in the final and became the youngest-ever winner of the event. His outstanding performance in 2018 also helped him reach No.3 in the ITTF world ranking, his career best.
2020 Harimoto won third place at the 2020 World Cup. Harimoto led 3–1 against Ma Long in the semi-finals, but lost 4–3 after Ma Long called time-out in the fifth game and switched to a high-toss serve that Harimoto had trouble reading.
2021 In March, Harimoto played in WTT Doha. He was upset in the semi-finals by Dimitrij Ovtcharov in the WTT Contender event, but won the champion for the WTT Star Contender event.
In June, teammate Jun Mizutani said that Harimoto's mental game was steadily improving in 2021 and better than the previous year. Mizutani also positively noted that Harimoto was reverting to his more aggressive style of play in 2021.
Harimoto was upset by Darko Jorgic in the round of 16 of the men's singles event at the Tokyo Olympics. Originally slated to be the ace player in the team event, Harimoto ended up playing in doubles in Japan's 3–1 victory against Sweden in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, Harimoto won both his matches as the ace player against Germany, but Germany still won 3–2.
Records June 2016: Youngest ever winner of an ITTF World Tour under-21 men's singles title (12 years, 355 days). December 2016: Youngest ever winner of the boys' singles title at the World Junior Championships (13 years, 163 days). August 2017: Youngest ever winner of an ITTF World Tour men's singles title (14 years, 61 days). January 2018: Youngest ever winner of the men's singles title at the Japanese National Championships (14 years, 207 days). December 2018: Youngest ever winner of an ITTF World Tour Grand Finals men's singles title (15 years, 172 days).
Awards ITTF Star Awards: Breakthrough Star (2017)
Major tournament performance timeline +KeyWFSFQF#R (W) won; (F) finalist; (SF) semi-finalist, rank added if bronze medal match played; (QF) quarter-finalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1;(S) singles event; (MD) men's doubles event; (XD) mixed doubles event; (T) team event. Tournament2017201820192020202120222023202420252026World ChampionshipsSQF4R2RQF3RMD3R3R1R3RXDFF TQFSFQFFOlympic GamesS4RQFXD 1RTSF3SF4World CupSQFFSF3SFQFQFTFSF3rdFITTF Finals / WTT FinalsSQFWQF1RFFQFFWMDQFQFYear-end ranking201720182019202020212022202320242025202617555521134 Senior career highlights, as of 10 August 2026
ITTF/WTT career finals Singles: 29 (16 titles, 13 runners-up) ResultYearTournamentOpponentScoreRefRunner-up2017ITTF World Tour, India Open Dimitrij Ovtcharov0–4Winner2017ITTF World Tour, Czech Open Timo Boll4–2Winner2018ITTF World Tour, Japan Open Zhang Jike4–3Winner2018ITTF World Tour Grand Finals Lin Gaoyuan4–1Runner-up2019ITTF World Tour, Hong Kong Open Lin Gaoyuan2–4Winner2019ITTF World Tour, Bulgaria Open Zhao Zihao4–2Runner-up2019World Cup Fan Zhendong2–4Winner2020ITTF World Tour, Hungarian Open Yukiya Uda4–1Winner2021WTT Star Contender Doha Ruwen Filus4–2Runner-up2021WTT Cup Finals Fan Zhendong1–4Winner2022WTT Champions European Summer Series Lin Gaoyuan4–3Runner-up2022WTT Cup Finals Wang Chuqin2–4Winner2022Asian Cup Lim Jong-hoon4–1Runner-up2024WTT Contender Doha Timo Boll3–4Winner2024WTT Contender Tunis Yukiya Uda4–3Winner2024WTT Star Contender Bangkok Lin Gaoyuan4–0Winner2024Asian Championships Lin Shidong3–1Runner-up2024WTT Champions Montpellier Félix Lebrun1–4Runner-up2024WTT Finals Wang Chuqin0–4Winner2025WTT Star Contender Doha Jonathan Groth4–0Runner-up2025WTT Contender Muscat Chen Yuanyu2–4Winner2025WTT Contender Zagreb Chen Yuanyu4–0Runner-up2025WTT United States Smash Wang Chuqin0–4Winner2025WTT Champions Yokohama Wang Chuqin4–2Runner-up2025WTT Star Contender London Dang Qiu2–4Winner2025WTT Finals Truls Möregårdh4–2Runner-up2026Asian Cup Wang Chuqin2–4Winner2026WTT Champions Yokohama Oh Jun-sung4–1Runner-up2026WTT Europe Smash – Sweden Félix Lebrun1–4
Men's doubles: 8 (4 titles, 4 runners-up) ResultYearTournamentPartnerOpponentsScoreRefRunner-up2017ITTF World Tour Platinum, China OpenYuto Kizukuri Jin Ueda / Maharu Yoshimura1–3Runner-up2017ITTF World Tour Platinum, German OpenYuto Kizukuri Jung Young-sik / Lee Sang-su2–3Winner2022WTT Contender TunisYuto Kizukuri Zhao Zihao / Xue Fei3–2Winner2024WTT Contender TunisSora Matsushima Huang Yan-cheng / Feng Yi-hsin3–0Winner2024WTT Star Contender BangkokSora Matsushima Kao Cheng-jui / Chuang Chih-yuan3–2Runner-up2025WTT Star Contender DohaSora Matsushima Xiang Peng / Xu Yingbin2–3Winner2025WTT Contender MuscatSora Matsushima Hung Jing-kai / Chang Yu-an3–0Runner-up2025WTT Star Contender ChennaiSora Matsushima Lim Jong-hoon / An Jae-hyun1–3
Mixed doubles: 15 (8 titles, 7 runners-up) ResultYearTournamentPartnerOpponentsScoreRefRunner-up2019ITTF World Tour Platinum, Japan OpenHina Hayata Xu Xin / Zhu Yuling0–3Winner2019ITTF World Tour Platinum, Austrian OpenHina Hayata Lin Gaoyuan / Zhu Yuling3–1Runner-up2021World ChampionshipsHina Hayata Wang Chuqin / Sun Yingsha0–3Winner2022WTT Contender ZagrebHina Hayata Wong Chun Ting / Doo Hoi Kem3–0Runner-up2022WTT Star Contender European Summer SeriesHina Hayata Wang Chuqin / Wang Manyu2–3Winner2022WTT Contender TunisMiwa Harimoto Feng Yi-hsin / Chen Szu-yu3–2Runner-up2023Singapore SmashHina Hayata Wang Chuqin / Sun Yingsha1–3Runner-up2023World ChampionshipsHina Hayata Wang Chuqin / Sun Yingsha0–3Runner-up2023WTT Star Contender LanzhouHina Hayata Lin Shidong / Kuai Man2–3Winner2023WTT Contender AntalyaHina Hayata Félix Lebrun / Prithika Pavade3–1Runner-up2024WTT Contender Rio de JaneiroHina Hayata Lim Jong-hoon / Shin Yu-bin0–3Winner2024WTT Contender ZagrebHina Hayata Lim Jong-hoon / Shin Yu-bin3–2Winner2024WTT Star Contender LjubljanaHina Hayata Lim Jong-hoon / Shin Yu-bin3–2Winner2024WTT Contender TunisHina Hayata Kristian Karlsson / Christina Källberg3–2Winner2024WTT Star Contender BangkokHina Hayata Wong Chun Ting / Doo Hoi Kem3–1
Record against top-10 players Harimoto's singles match record against those who had been ranked in the top 10 (): PlayerHighestrankingRecordWin%Last match Vladimir Samsonov15–0100%Won (4–1) at 2019 ITTF World Tour Platinum German Open Timo Boll12–340%Lost (3–4) at 2024 WTT Contender Doha Ma Long12–433%Lost (3–4) at 2020 World Cup Zhang Jike12–0100%Won (4–3) at 2018 ITTF World Tour Japan Open Xu Xin10–80%Lost (3–4) at 2019 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals Dimitrij Ovtcharov17–558%Lost (1–3) at 2025 WTT Champions Frankfurt Fan Zhendong12–820%Lost (3–4) at 2024 Summer Olympics Wang Chuqin13–1418%Lost (2–4) at 2026 ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup Lin Shidong16–275%Won (4–3) at 2025 WTT Finals Lin Gaoyuan25–456%Won (3–1) at 2025 Asian Cup Liang Jingkun23–827%Lost (2–3) at 2026 World Team Championships Hugo Calderano24–267%Lost (1–4) at 2025 World Cup Truls Möregårdh22–250%Won (4–2) at 2025 WTT Finals Chuang Chih-yuan38–373%Won (3–0) at 2024 Summer Olympics Jun Mizutani43–0100%Won (4–1) at 2019 ITTF World Tour Hong Kong Open Félix Lebrun43–633%Lost (0–3) at 2026 World Team Championships Sora Matsushima45–183%Won (4–2) at 2026 WTT Champions Yokohama Koki Niwa54–180%Won (4–3) at 2019 World Cup Lin Yun-ju510–567%Won (3–1) at 2026 World Team Championships Wong Chun Ting610–377%Lost (1–3) at 2026 Asian Cup Lee Sang-su64–180%Won (4–1) at 2022 Asian Cup Darko Jorgić63–175%Won (3–1) at 2023 WTT Champions Macao Marcos Freitas75–271%Won (4–2) at 2024 World Cup Jeoung Young-sik73–175%Won (3–0) at 2021 WTT Star Contender Doha Mattias Falck72–250% Lost (1–3) at 2022 WTT Champions Macao Simon Gauzy85–0 100% Won (4–2) at 2025 WTT Finals Dang Qiu83–3 50% Won (3–0) at 2026 World Team Championships Jang Woo-jin86–555%Won (3–0) at 2024 WTT Finals Patrick Franziska89–190%Lost (2–3) at 2026 WTT Singapore Smash Alexis Lebrun83–260%Won (4–0) at 2026 WTT Champions Yokohama Benedikt Duda85–183%Won (3–0) at 2026 World Team Championships Xiang Peng84–180%Won (3–0) at 2026 WTT Champions Yokohama Gao Ning91–0100%Won (3–0) at 2018 World Championships Kenta Matsudaira90–10%Lost (2–4) at 2018 ITTF World Tour Bulgarian Open Quadri Aruna105–271%Won (3–2) at 2025 WTT United States Smash
Notes
References
External links Tomokazu Harimoto at Table Tennis Media Tomokazu Harimoto at Table Tennis Guide