Miwa Harimoto
Miwa Harimoto is a Japanese table tennis player.
Personal life
Harimoto was born Zhang Meihe in Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture. Her father Yuu Harimoto and mother Zhang Ling are both former professional table tennis players from Sichuan, China. Zhang Ling, at the peak of her career, represented the China national [table tennis team|Chinese National Table Tennis Team] at the 43rd World Table Tennis Championships in Tianjin. Her parents moved from China to Japan in 1998. Miwa's older brother Tomokazu Harimoto is also a table tennis player.Career
She won the 2021 Youth Championships in U-15 singles, women's doubles, mixed doubles, and team events. She remained undefeated throughout.At the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, she won two medals. She was the third player on the Japanese team, losing in the final against China. With Miyuu Kihara, they notably eliminated the Chinese pair Wang Manyu/Sun Yingsha in the quarter-final. They finally brought home a bronze medal.
In 2024, Harimoto was picked for the Japanese national team as the third women's team event member at the Table tennis at the [2024 Summer Olympics – Women's team|Summer Olympics]. She won bronze in women's singles at the 2024 ITTF World Cup. In October, Harimoto defeated Wang Yidi and Sun Yingsha in the women's team final at the 2024 Asian Championships, helping the Japanese team clinch the women's team title.