The World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Contender concluded today in Doha, Qatar. In a rare case of truth in advertising, both stars and contenders were in contention. Captain of the contenders was Ruwen Filus of Germany (pictured, in blue), the Cinderella of the ball. The German defender, ranked 42nd in the world, had strung together four consecutive upsets to reach the finals: Jang Woojin of South Korea (world ranking #12), Jun Mizutani of Japan (WR# 18), Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei (WR# 6) and Darko Jorgic of Slovenia (WR #31). Filus, a modern defender who incorporates a strong attacking game into his befuddling arsenal of chops, defensive topspins and lobs, was looking to complete his fairy tale with his fifth straight straight-up upset. In his sights and in his way was top seeded 17-year-old star Tomokazu Harimoto (pictured, in black), the world #5 from Japan. While Filus and fellow Europeans Yang Wang of Slovak Republic and Panagiotis Gionis of Greece exemplify the defensive arts, it would be hard to find a better embodiment of the attacking spirit than Harimoto. With a banana flick backhand reminiscent of China's world #1 Fan Zhendong, Harimoto looks to attack every ball. When Harimoto is on, no one in the world can beat him. He does, however, struggle with consistency, often seeming to beat himself. Last week, in the season-opening WTT Contender, Harimoto blew a 2-0 lead to champion-elect Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany in the semifinals. This week, the two again clashed in the penultimate round. Harimoto reversed the result with a 4-2 win to reach the finals. There, Harimoto faced another determined German in the form of Filus. With the irresistible force of Harimoto's offense colliding with the immovable object of Filus' defense, something had to give. Ordinarily, defenders thrive on forcing errors from attackers. This time, however, it was Filus who struggled to find a rhythm, gifting the already preternaturally gifted Harimoto with error after error. The steady Harimoto won the title with a (11-9, 11-9, 12-14, 11-5, 7-11, 11-8) scoreline. "I'm very pleased with how I've played over the last two weeks in Doha," said Harimoto. "I lost to Dimitrij Ovtcharov in semi-final of the WTT Contender Doha. He is a very good player and was a better player on that day. But I'm very happy I made a good comeback in the WTT Star Contender Doha and won the title." With the win, Harimoto joined compatriot Mima Ito to complete a Japanese sweep of the WTT Star Contender singles titles, an impressive feat even without any Chinese players in the tournament. The two top seeds are in top form, which they hope to maintain this summer at the Tokyo Olympics. Of course, the Chinese team is also training hard back home for the summer games. When they take the field, even stars like Tomokazu Harimoto and Mima Ito are relegated to the roles of contenders.

More at ETTU