Iran's 34-Year-Old Ranked 344th Knocks World No. 4 Harimoto Out of the Asian Games

The day after Japan ended China's 36-year hold on the Asian Games men's team title, its own tournament turned upside down. Harimoto Tomokazu — world No. 4, home hero, the man who had just carried Japan to its first team gold in six decades — lost his singles quarter-final in Nagoya on Saturday, 3-4, to Noshad Alamiyan, a 34-year-old Iranian ranked 344th in the world.

Harimoto did not dress the result up. "If you judge by the content of the match, it was almost a complete defeat," (完败) he told reporters, according to Xinhua, adding only that in competition "the result is everything." The tactical story was Alamiyan's serve: low toss, heavy spin, living in the grey zone of the service rules, and this event has no video-review system to appeal to. Harimoto, asked about it by Japanese media, shrugged that everyone has always had to play through such calls — and that winning despite them is part of the sport.

Alamiyan is one of table tennis's genuine originals. A neurological problem years ago remade his game until it barely resembles the textbook: he has almost no forehand to speak of, attacks almost entirely off the backhand side, and wins with serves, spin and a glacially uncomfortable tempo. The résumé is long — Wang Liqin beaten at the 2012 Asian Cup, bronze in Jakarta in 2018, Iran's first individual Asian Games table tennis medal, Lin Gaoyuan in 2022, and Hong Kong's Wong Chun Ting earlier this week. "As long as my body allows it, I will keep playing," he said afterwards, adding that he hopes the win sends more Iranians into the sport.

The upset registered hardest across the net. South Korea's players, watching courtside ahead of their own ties, were caught open-mouthed — the clip of the Korean bench dissolving into disbelief is what actually trended under the day's hotword. Japanese television, one viral post noted, cut away from the venue the moment match point fell.

By evening Japan's men's singles was emptied out entirely. Matsushima Sora, who had played four events in as many days, fell 2-4 to China's Lin Shidong in the other quarter-final and pronounced himself past exhaustion — "more than 100% fatigued" — before crediting his opponent: China has so many excellent players, he said, and he lost on focus and will.

China's own day carried a worry. Lin Shidong advances, and Wang Chuqin beat Chinese Taipei's Feng Yi-hsin 4-0 to join him in the semi-finals — but Wang played through chest pain that peaked in Friday's mixed doubles final, where he and Sun Yingsha settled for silver as Lin and Kuai Man took the title 4-0. "By the fourth game, the pain was getting a bit unbearable," Wang said afterwards; Sun, asked how the pair absorbs such a result, answered that in mixed doubles "the most important thing is trust — when one of us is off form, the other steps up." The final was all-Chinese either way, silver rather than gold, and a reminder of how thin the margins have become.

Deng Yaping, watching for a streaming panel, warned Wang to study Saturday's lesson before he meets the man who caused it: Alamiyan in Monday's semi-final, lock down the backhand lines and refuse his rhythm. A year ago their Asian Cup match went the full distance. The question Nagoya will answer is whether a man with no forehand can do it twice.