Yesterday, 11-year-old Miwa Harimoto of Japan won the junior girls’ (18 and under) championship at the 2020 Czech Junior and Cadet Open. If the surname is familiar, you may begin to suspect that precocity runs in the family. Miwa's big brother Tomokazu Harimoto has been the face of Japanese table tennis ever since 2017, when he became the youngest ever winner of an ITTF World Tour event at the age of 14. Since then, he has gone on to amass perhaps a record number of records beginning with "Youngest player ever to win...", including claiming the Japanese national men's singles title at 14. Now 16, Harimoto is Japan's best hope to interrupt China's perennial dominance. By the time the summer Olympics light the torch in Tokyo, he will be an old man of 17. Now, it appears that Tomokazu will not be the only Harimoto shouldering the hopes of a nation. His little sister Miwa went to the Czech Republic city of Hodonin as the #2-ranked cadet girl (under 15) in the world, trailing only Egypt's 12-year-old phenom Hana Goda. In the world junior girls rankings (under 18), however, Harimoto is a distant 72nd. At the Czech Open, she was ranked 19th, just outside the top 16 who automatically qualified for the knockout rounds. No matter for the fearless 11-year-old, who proceeded to sweep her qualifying group. In the knockout rounds, she maintained her dominant form, dropping only a single game en route to the championship. In the final, Harimoto faced 16-year-old Arina Slautina of Russia, who managed nine points in the opening game but could get no closer. The title shows Harimoto's rapid advancement. After managing three runner-up spots in the cadet girls' (under 15) events last year, she has now graduated to winning a junior girls (under 18) title. With another talented Harimoto on the world scene, Japan's hopes for the future continue to rise. The recent addition of mixed doubles to Olympic table tennis must also set imaginations ablaze in the Land of the Rising Sun.

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