[TOP 3 Players Who Are Best at Knuckle Technique] Koki Niwa: “No. 1 is Tomokazu HARIMOTO”

From Table Tennis Kingdom, December 2026 issue / From the “Top 3 Players Who Are Best at Knuckle Technique” selected by players and coaches

In addition to Koki Niwa, Kyoka Idezawa, and Junko Haga, who shared their thoughts on the knuckle, we also asked Muneaki Mitamura, who handled the technical commentary, to name three players he thinks are especially good at knuckle-type techniques, and explain why.

Top 3 Selected by Koki Niwa (Careless & Partners)

1st: Tomokazu HARIMOTO (Japan)
2nd: Truls MOREGARD (Sweden)
3rd: Jun Mizutani (Japan)

The player I think is best at using the knuckle is Tomokazu HARIMOTO. He is one of the few players who build their game around top-spin service. Even his short service carries plenty of pace, so it’s hard to tell whether it’s backspin or a knuckle ball.

As I mentioned in the knuckle section, HARIMOTO is excellent around the table, and he also has confidence in rallies, so I feel he uses top-spin service, including knuckle variations.

Second is Truls MOREGARD. In an era when backhand topspin is dominant, he is one of the few players who mainly uses a striking backhand punch shot. His backhand punch shot is fast and comes at you with a knuckle-like trajectory, so top players seem to struggle to handle it.

Third is Jun Mizutani. I remember him using a lot of knuckle service and relying heavily on knuckle-type techniques such as the knuckle flick and backhand punch shot.

Tomokazu HARIMOTO

Top 3 Selected by Kyoka Idezawa (Resonac)

1st: Mima Ito (Japan)
2nd: Deng Yaping (China)
3rd: He Zhuojia (China)

Mima Ito, my No. 1, moves so quickly, and her recovery and preparation for the next ball are both so fast that you get the feeling, “She can do anything.” When you play her, her impact point is so early that it’s hard even to make contact with the ball, and by the time you do make contact, the impact point is already late, so she can drop a knuckle ball right in. When it comes to creating variation, that early impact point is still crucial.

Deng Yaping, my No. 2, had a very versatile backhand and was also excellent at dropping the ball short. I’ve been watching videos of her since I first started playing table tennis, and even when I was in elementary school, Mihoko Onuki, who coached me at the time, told me, “Aim for that kind of table tennis.” As for He Zhuojia, my No. 3, I think she’s great at varying pace front to back on the backhand side and at controlling placement.

Mima Ito

Top 3 Selected by Junko Haga (Haga Table Tennis Club)

Honoka Hashimoto (Japan), Yuto Muramatsu (Japan), Wu Yang (China)

Among active players, Honoka Hashimoto stands out. She uses a lot of effective Chop-style backspin. If she can add more attacking power, I think her Chop game will become even more effective.

In the men’s game, Yuto Muramatsu is a player who can produce Chop with great skill. Among Chinese Chop-style players, Wu Yang, who has already retired, was excellent. She won silver in the women’s doubles at the 2014 Asian Games. They are all Chop-style players who use short pips.

Honoka Hashimoto

Top 3 Selected by Muneaki Mitamura (Little Kings)

Qiu Jianxin (China), Ma Lin (China), Yukinobu Takayama (Japan)

When it comes to knuckle service, the first name that comes to mind is Qiu Jianxin. It was also an era when you were allowed to hide your service when serving, but Qiu used a long service, and the variation was hard to read, so opponents would often overhit it. Ting Song (China) served in a similar way.

Ma Lin’s service was also short and hard to read. In Japan, it was Yukinobu Takayama, now head coach of Meiji University. He was incredibly good at disguising backspin and then sending out a knuckle ball. There were others too: Tomohiko Tokumura, Yoji Morimoto, Takahiro Mihara, Koichi Takeya... In the past, forehand-dominant players were the mainstream, so there were many players who used top-spin service, and many who were also skilled at knuckle service.

Qiu Jianxin