Australia’s table tennis campaign comes to an end after loss to Japan

The Australian men’s team of Heming Hu, Chris Yan and David Powell went down to Japan 0-3 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium today, ending Australia’s table tennis campaign at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

The round-of-16 contest was always going to be a tough one for Australia, who were facing the no.3 seed in the draw. 

Yan and Hu opened up the match playing against Rio 2016 team event silver medallists Koki Niwa and Jun Mizutani. The Aussies held their ground throughout the match, but the experience and quality of Niwa and Mizutani eventually prevailed, giving Japan the Doubles win in straight games (11-7, 11-2, 11-8) and the overall lead after the opener.

David Powell was up next in the first of the Singles matches, taking on 18-year-old Tomokazu Harimoto, who finished 9th in the Men’s Singles last week. The Australian was able to build early leads in every game, but each time Harimoto responded with impressive comebacks to close the match 0-3 (4-11 9-11 7-11). 

Still, Powell was pleased that he was able to put up a credible challenge against one of the top-ranked players in the world.

“I always knew it was going to be tough,” Powell said. “I was able to put him under some pressure early in the sets, but obviously it was hard to maintain that going deeper into the games.

“With the top players in the world, they don’t miss easy balls, you have to earn every point. So probably the ‘serve and receive’ was one of the most important things, trying to make sure there was enough quality on the ball to put him under some pressure, so I am pleased I was able to do that,” he said.

Chris Yan valiantly tried to keep Australia’s hopes alive in the second Singles match and even saved two match points for Japan, but Tokyo 2020 Mixed Doubles Olympic Champion Mizutani proved to be too strong for the Aussie, taking the match 3-0 (11-4, 11-1, 11-8) and sealing Japan’s win. 

“I played my best,” Yan said after the match, “but there’s still room to improve. I need to work on the details of my game and hopefully I’ll play even better next time. It’s always good to play against the best in the world because you can learn from them, see what the gap is and how to catch up with them,” he said.

Despite the loss, the Australian team were proud not to have conceded an easy run to one of the top teams in the world. Hu warned against directly comparing full-time, elite players like the Japanese with athletes who love the sport, but have to find a delicate balance between training for an international event and juggling everyday life commitments.

“There is always going to be that difference,” Hu said. “Still, we didn’t get overwhelmed. We put up a good fight and we made them feel nervous at times. So I think we played well in that respect. Mentally and tactically we were ready, but we already knew Japan are potential world champions.”

As the Aussie paddlers end their second Olympic campaign and say goodbye to Tokyo, our athletes said they are grateful to have had the opportunity to compete at the Games..

“Everything has been amazing,” Powell said. “The fact that Japan could put the Games on in these times is a testament to how hard they have worked. The facilities have been amazing, so overall I was very impressed with the event they managed to put on.”

“Every Olympics is good,” Hu added. “Everyday was so much fun and we met a lot of cool people, so even with COVID, I am really glad these Olympics happened. We had an amazing time,” he said.

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