Chinese table tennis is defeated in America

On the morning of July 13 (Vietnam time), China's strongest tennis player, Lin Shidong, faced a challenger named Tomokazu Harimoto in the semi-finals of the US Smash - a prestigious "Grand Slam" table tennis tournament held in the US.

The US Smash was exciting from the first day, when 3/7 Chinese seeded players suffered shocking defeats. It should be noted that out of the top 4 seeds of the tournament, China accounted for 3.

However, China's two strongest players, Lin Shidong - world number 1 and Wang Chuqin (number 2) still advanced to the semi-finals, in two different branches.

In the other bracket semi-final, Wang sweated his way to a 4-3 win over France's Felix Lebrun. But the "all-Chinese" final could not take place because of a troublemaker named Harimoto.

Harimoto is the leading symbol of "anti-China" in table tennis. The Japanese player is a rare name strong enough to compete with the powerful Chinese players.

The match lasted 7 games with extremely dramatic developments. Harimoto started impressively by winning the first 2 games in a row with the score of 11-7, 11-9.

With the spirit of the world's number 1 tennis player, Lin regained control of the match, winning 3 consecutive games with scores of 12-10, 11-9, 11-7, thereby leading 3-2.

But Harimoto regained control in the sixth game with his reckless play. The Japanese player continuously won points with high-speed doubles. In the sixth game, Harimoto won convincingly 11-5.

Lin showed signs of nerves in the seventh game, completely stifled by his opponent's momentum. Harimoto won 11-6 in the deciding game to win 4-3 overall, thereby securing a ticket to the final.

This defeat extended Lin Shidong's dismal record against Harimoto. In the last five encounters, the Chinese player lost four.

Because of these losses, the Chinese table tennis community has been worried about its dominant position for the past year. Lin Shidong is only 20 years old, although considered a table tennis "prodigy", but is often at a disadvantage when facing strong opponents like Harimoto.

The final match between Harimoto and Wang Chuqin will take place at 7:00 p.m. local time, tomorrow morning, July 14, Vietnam time.