Harimoto recovers from two games down to beat Li Tianyang for Asian table tennis singles title

Tomokazu Harimoto is Asia's men's singles champion again. The Japanese star lost the first two games of Sunday's final in Tashkent against China's 19-year-old Li Tianyang, then won three in a row for a 3-2 victory. In the women's final, China's Chen Yi beat Miwa Harimoto, Tomokazu's sister, 3-0. China won four titles at the ITTF-ATTU Asian Championships in Uzbekistan and Japan won three.

Harimoto turns the men's final around

Li made the better start and went two games up, and an upset looked likely. Harimoto, 23, steadied himself and won the next three games to retain the title he won in Astana in 2024, when he beat Lin Shidong 3-1 in the final. There was no individual competition in between: the 2025 edition in Bhubaneswar was the first held with team events only.

Li had needed five games himself to get through a semi-final between two teenagers, beating 17-year-old Kuo Guan-Hong of Chinese Taipei 3-2.

The draw lost one of its leading names early. Butterfly Online reported that Sora Matsushima withdrew from the men's singles, which gave Sri Lanka's Senura Silva a first-round walkover.

The win also makes up for a recent near miss. Harimoto reached the 2026 Asian Cup final in Haikou but lost 4-2 to Wang Chuqin.

Chen Yi beats the favourite in straight games

The women's final was one-sided. Chen Yi beat Miwa Harimoto 11-5, 11-8, 11-6, according to UNI. On the way to the final she had also beaten Hina Hayata and Wang Yidi 3-0.

Miwa Harimoto still had a busy and successful week. She won gold in the women's team event and in the mixed doubles, where she and Matsushima beat Chen Yi and Huang Youzheng. She also reached the women's doubles final with Hina Hayata, but they lost to China's Kuai Man and Wang Yidi.

China and Japan split the titles

China won the men's team title, beating Iran and Chinese Taipei before a 3-0 win over South Korea in the final. In the women's team final, Japan beat top seeds China. China also won the men's doubles in an all-Chinese final: Lin Shidong and Huang Youzheng beat Wen Ruibo and Yuan Licen 3-1.

That leaves China with four titles (men's team, women's singles, men's doubles and women's doubles) and Japan with three (women's team, men's singles and mixed doubles). Both team golds and both singles titles were split between the two countries, and China won two of the three doubles events.

Why it matters for the region

The Asian Championships come weeks after Japan beat China 3-2 for the men's team gold at the 2026 Asian Games. Harimoto's comeback adds to the sense that China's lead in men's table tennis is narrower than it used to be. Malaysian fans will remember the 2024 edition, when Javen Choong and Wong Qi Shen won a historic men's doubles bronze. The same pair won Commonwealth Championships gold in August.

Key takeaways

• Tomokazu Harimoto came from 0-2 down to beat Li Tianyang 3-2 and retain the Asian men's singles title.
• Chen Yi beat Miwa Harimoto 11-5, 11-8, 11-6 to win the women's singles.
• China won four titles and Japan three at the 2026 Asian Championships in Tashkent.
• Miwa Harimoto won team and mixed doubles gold and finished runner-up in both singles and women's doubles.
• No individual titles were contested in 2025, so Harimoto's previous singles title came in 2024.

FAQ

Who won the men's singles at the 2026 Asian Table Tennis Championships? Japan's Tomokazu Harimoto. He beat China's Li Tianyang 3-2 in Tashkent on 25 October after losing the first two games.

Who won the women's singles? China's Chen Yi. She beat Japan's Miwa Harimoto 11-5, 11-8, 11-6 in the final.

Which country won the most titles? China won four of the seven events and Japan won the other three.

Sources: Butterfly Online, UNI, TableTennis.Media, Wikipedia, New Straits Times, The Star