Siblings and table tennis prodigies Tomokazu and Miwa watch Olympic success

SINGAPORE Tomokazu Harimoto knows all about the pressure you experience when you're a table tennis prodigy.

Still just 20 years old, expectations for the young Japanese have grown along with his list of accolades, including bronze in the team event at the Tokyo Olympics.

With his 15-year-old sister Miwa in the spotlight, world number 9 Tomokazu now finds himself in the role of a supportive older brother.

Both have been called up to Japan's squad for the Paris Olympics and ahead of her first appearance at the quadrennial Games, Tomokazu already has some advice for his sister on how to handle the pressure at this level.

Don't think too much, just play. The Olympics happen once every four years, but it's just a normal competition, it won't be any different just because it's the Olympics, Tomokazu told Miwa while both were doing an interview during this week's Singapore Smash.

The opponent and environment are still the same. Don't think just because it's the Olympics you have to win a medal. Just go in with your usual mindset.

These words will certainly resonate with Miwa, who described reaching the Summer Games as nothing but a dream and was inspired by her brother's heroics.

She also had some worried words for Tomokazu, who is in the hunt for the singles title after an exit in the last 16 in Tokyo. Miwa said: My brother is going to participate in three events. I hope he doesn't get hurt and takes good care of his body.

In February, she secured the final spot in the women's team for Paris 2024, ahead of Mima Ito, who claimed a gold, silver and bronze medal at the Tokyo Games. Coincidentally, Ito is a child prodigy himself and competed in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio as a 15-year-old.

The Harimoto siblings were born in Sendai, a city in Miyagi Prefecture, to Zhang Yu and Zhang Ling, originally from Sichuan. Yu was a Chinese national youth player while Ling represented China at the 1995 World Table Tennis Championships in Tianjin.

Yu moved to Japan as a coach in 1998 and settled in Sendai. In 2014, the family became Japanese citizens and changed their surname to Harimoto.

Unsurprisingly, the influence of Zhang Yu and Zhang Ling passed on to Tomokazu when he started playing table tennis at the age of two, and Miwa followed suit.

Both showed signs of their talent at a young age. Tomokazu became the youngest International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour Grand Finals champion at 15 years and 172 days and is also the youngest men's singles winner on the ITTF World Tour.

It didn't take long for Miwa to start making her own headlines when she quickly rose in the world rankings from March to May 2022, rising 553 places from 624 to 71. She is now ranked 17th and although she does not yet have a senior ITTF title , she captured the singles title at the WTT Regular Challenge Tunisia in 2023.

At the Singapore Smash, Tomokazu lost 3-2 (11-9, 14-12, 5-11, 6-11, 8-11) in the men's singles round of 16 on March 14 to China's Liang Jingkun. His sister also fell at the same stage, losing 3-0 (11-2, 12-10, 11-8) to defending champion Sun Yingsha of China.

There is friendly competition between the duo that pushes them to be better, with Miwa saying: Because I have been compared to my brother who is achieving better results, the mentality for me is not to lose to the brother and I will work hard to to achieve this. That.

She is looking forward to a medal at the Olympics and also hopes to one day compete with her brother, who usually teams up with Hina Hayata, in mixed doubles.

On the rare occasions when the Harimotos have allied with each other, it has been successful. They won the World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender Tunis in August 2022.

Miwa said: When I played mixed doubles with my brother once, I had the feeling that this was the first and last time I would play with him. At that time, it motivated me to work harder so that I could play with him in the future.