THE WORLD TECHNIQUE at WTTC LONDON Miwa Harimoto [Japan]

The World Table Tennis Championships London 2026 Team Event was held from April to May. Former Japan national team coach Yosuke Kurashima explains the techniques of the players who stood out at this event. From powerful shots to fine skills, the play of the world’s top-ranked players is packed with points worth learning from.

By catching the “inside” of the ball, the backhand down the line becomes more effective

[Miwa Harimoto’s backhand topspin down the line]

At the World Table Tennis Team Event in London in 2026, Miwa Harimoto posted a tournament-best 10 wins and 1 loss among the women. In the Final against China, she also earned her first victory over Wang Manyu.

In the match against Wang Manyu, she aggressively targeted the backhand down the line to create chances, and the pattern in which she scored with consecutive forehand topspins stood out. Her backhand topspin down the line is one of her weapons, but as shown in the consecutive photos above, she catches the inside of the ball (slightly to the right side of the ball from her perspective) and swings, making her placement down the line more effective.

When she hits the ball this way, it becomes a topspin with left sidespin, and after the bounce it takes a trajectory that seems to escape outside the opponent’s court. From the opponent’s point of view, the ball moves away, making it difficult to return down the line, so naturally the ball tends to gather cross-court, meaning to Harimoto’s forehand side. Waiting for that, she unleashes a barrage of forehand topspins.

This is a pattern she has always been good at, but until now, when facing Chinese players, even if she got them to return to her forehand side, she could sometimes be pushed back in the rally or lose the exchange. However, in this tournament, she kept hitting consecutive forehand topspins at a high contact point and defeated Wang Manyu. It was a match that also showed a greater power in her forehand topspin than before.