The extraordinary feeling and potential revealed by a fleeting moment of everyday life at WTT Yokohama 2025

Yokohama came alive at the 2025 WTT Champions. Tomokazu. HARIMOTO defeated world champion WANG Chuqin to take the title. Spectators felt that “table tennis events have changed.” And now WTT Champions is coming to Yokohama once again.
What did Masato Suzuki, a Nikkei journalist who has covered table tennis for many years and knows both the “pre-WTT” and “post-WTT” eras, feel at WTT Yokohama 2025? What future for WTT did he see through the eyes of a reporter familiar with the world of sports?

The overwhelming space created by the “Infinity Arena,” with its nonstop light and sound production

It was an accidental moment of full lighting that instead highlighted its unique world. The men’s semi-final at WTT Champions Yokohama had just seen Tomokazu. HARIMOTO take the first Game against Kanak JHA of the United States.

The pale purple lights bathing the stands suddenly switched, and the arena packed to the upper tiers came sharply into view. It must have been some kind of trouble, but the lights soon returned to normal and the Match resumed. In an interview after his comfortable win, HARIMOTO said, “It was the first time I’d seen BUNTAI looking so bright. It brought back a nostalgic feeling.”