Harimoto siblings eye home success

Harimoto siblings Tomokazu and Miwa, have firmly established themselves as two of the best table tennis players on the planet, winning the sport’s biggest prizes, defeating its biggest names and now looking to add further accolades by winning their home tournament: WTT Champions Yokohama next week.  

Tomokazu, 23, was a child prodigy who made his professional debut aged 11 and now has eight WTT titles, including WTT Finals Hong Kong 2025 and WTT Champions Yokohama 2025, to his name. 

His exploits in 2025 have yet to see him reach a WTT Series final, but he has made it to the last four at two WTT Champions events (WTT Champions Doha 2026 and WTT Champions Chongqing 2026. However, heading to Yokohama, Tomokazu has home advantage and the status of defending champion on his side as he looks to take his season to the next level and secure that first WTT Series title. 

Tomokazu thrived in this exact venue 12 months ago, in what was arguably his best title win, surviving a late comeback attempt from Wang Chuqin to lift the roof off Yokohama BUNTAI.

Heading into that match, Tomokazu had never beaten Chuqin in any of their six meetings on the WTT Series. Chuqin , however, was on a mission to regain his spot as World No.1 and had won back-to-back Men’s Singles titles at WTT Champions Chongqing 2025 and United States Smash 2025. 

After three games, Tomokazu was 3-0 up and in dreamland, but the pressure started ramping up. Tomokazu saved five game points across two games but was unable to stop Chuqin from narrowing the gap to 3-2. 

Many could have collapsed under that kind of pressure, but Tomokazu sealed the title with a ruthless 11-4 win over his Chinese counterpart.

At last year’s event, Miwa had just turned 17, and although Yokohama was set to be only her third WTT Champions event, she returned to Japan after winning back-to-back Star Contender events and reaching the quarterfinals of WTT Champions Chongqing 2025 and then the semifinals of WTT Champions Incheon 2025.

Everything pointed to a standout performance from the teenager, but Miwa left Yokohama early, suffering a 3-2 defeat to compatriot Hina Hayata in the Round of 16.

Now, however, Miwa is a different beast entirely. She currently sits at a career-high World No.3 and has been a different class this season. Not only did she win WTT Champions Chongqing 2026, becoming the youngest person to win a WTT Champions event, but she backed it up by going all the way at WTT Contender Zagreb 2026. 

Actually, her form on the WTT Series has been exceptional all season: her worst finish was the quarterfinals she reached at WTT Champions Doha 2026 and Singapore Smash 2026. 

Still not convinced? Well, this year, across all international events, Miwa has faced every player currently inside the Top 10 and beaten eight of them, only falling short against Wang Yidi and Sun Yingsha.

There’s no doubt that the Harimoto siblings are set to light up WTT Champions Yokohama 2026.