The junior national champion is decided on 14 January. Kazuki Hamada walks away with the junior boys' singles national title and the junior girls' singles national champion goes to Satsuki Odo.
Defending men's singles national champion Yukiya Uda suffers a seven-game upset by losing 3-4 to Sho Suzuki in round 4, while the Tokyo Olympian-to-be Miu Hirano was shocked out by Miyuu Kihara with a 4-0 defeat in round 6.
The women's singles semifinals match played between Hina Hayata and Mima Ito is a re-match of last year's semifinals. Though Mima Ito missed quite a number of forehand flat shots in the first few games and often stalled the game by requesting for wiping sweat on the table, she did not hold back when it counts and won the 7-game thriller over the defending champion Hina Hayata.
Mima Ito started off the women's singles final pretty well and had almost won the championships.Yet, Kasumi Ishikawa showed immense perseverance, saving game 5 at 12-10, and made an epic comeback from a 1-3 deficit. She burst into tears when she won game 7 at 11-9 as it was a 5-year wait for her 5th national title (2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2021) and winning a national title wasn't easy at all especially with so many competitive young talents coming up in the Japanese playing field.
The men's side is kind of a different story. We didn't see the Olympian-to-be in the semifinals. Jun Mizutani didn't compete in the Nationals as he announced that he would not compete in the men's singles of the All Japan National Championships anymore after winning his 10th national title in 2019. Whereas, Koki Niwa and Harimoto Tomokazu experienced an early exit in quarterfinal. In the men's singles finals, Masataka Morizono and Mizuki Oikawa vied for their first national singles title. After some extraordinary rallies and loops way back from the table, Mizuki Oikawa overcame a 1-3 deficit and topped the men's singles podium.
The men's and women's singles quarterfinals is scheduled for 16 January (Saturday) and the semifinals and finals for 17 January (Sunday) in Japan local time (GMT+9). Live streaming is available online and in NHK.
Watch it live here and full results here.
Schedule and Results
Mizuki Oikawa played fabulous! Incredible match against Harimoto.
ReplyDeleteDo you have an English knockout chart? 🏓🔛🔥
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