When the cat's away, the mice will play. The role of the cat in this cliché will be played by the Chinese national table tennis team. (Pandas, so accustomed to symbolizing China, can take a well-deserved break and enjoy some tender bamboo shoots.) The mice, in turn, will represent everyone else in the world of table tennis, all too accustomed to playing supporting roles as China claims titles and headlines. On the occasion of the 2020 ITTF World Tour Hungarian Open, however, the formidable Chinese contingent was unavailable for comment. Avoiding the COVID-19 outbreak in their homeland, all 29 players, coaches and trainers chose to sequester themselves in Qatar in preparation for next month's Qatar Open tournament. This left the Hungarian Open, staged in Budapest, wide open for the rest of the world. The highest-ranked non-Chinese players in the world did not miss a rare chance to enter an international tournament as the top seeds. On the women's side, this distinction was claimed by world #3 Mima Ito of Japan. The 19-year-old attacker with short pips on her backhand is the only player among the top seven women in the world not emblazoned with the familiar red flag with yellow stars. In Budapest, Ito cruised to the finals, dropping only three games among her four matches. In the finals, she faced Cheng I-Ching of Chinese Taipei, ranked 10th in the world but still looking for her first ITTF World Tour title at age 28. Ito, by contrast, has already claimed seven such successes in her relatively short career. It would be the battle of a hungry veteran versus a justifiably confident teenager. The epic match hinged on the sixth game. Leading three games to two, Cheng was up 7-2 and only four points away from her breakthrough win. Ito, however, was in no mood to be a footnote in Taiwanese table tennis history, storming back to close the game on a 9-2 run. "Game six was very important when I changed the direction of play," said Ito. "It made her confused and gave me the chance to come back in the match." With momentum firmly on Ito's side, game seven was a mere formality as she claimed her eight World Tour singles title, (11-7, 1-11, 11-6, 7-11, 2-11, 11-9, 11-7). Meanwhile, over in the men's draw, the top seed defaulted to world #5 Tomokazu Harimoto, also of Japan. The 16-year-old has never been shy about expressing his feelings, punctuating each point won with a primal scream and visibly pouting at the few that slip away. Like his countrywoman Ito, Harimoto sailed smoothly to the final, dropping only two games along the way. In the ultimate matchup, he faced compatriot Yukiya Uda, a lightning-quick 18-year-old southpaw ranked 50th in the world. The two talented teens had some recent history to motivate them, having also met in the final of the Japanese national championship. There, it was the unheralded Uda who edged the rock star Harimoto to claim the title. Perhaps motivated by this recent encounter, Harimoto was both clinical and ferocious in his attacking game, working Uda out of position with angled topspin drives before stepping around to fire forehand bullets for winners. In the end, the younger player exhibited his advantage in experience, claiming his fourth ITTF World Tour title with a (7-11, 11-8, 11-2, 11-6, 11-9) scoreline. "I was looking forward to this final to take my revenge after this year's All Japan Championships," said Harimoto after delivering Uda a dish best served cold with relish. Based on the performances of its teenage superstars, Japan can surely be confident of its future. The upcoming summer Olympics in Tokyo assuredly looms large in everyone's mind. Everyone, of course, including Team China. Meow.

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