Japan won the bronze medal by defeating South Korea 3 to 1 in the 3rd place playoff of the Tokyo Olympics and table tennis men's team.
The bronze medal was decided by Jun Mizutani, who described the tournament as "the culmination of his competitive life."
A veteran who suffered from a temporary illness due to eye problems and other factors showed strength on the big stage.
Mizutani, who participated in the 4th consecutive Olympic Games, said during this tournament, "I think that each game will be my last game, and I want to play without regrets." It was positioned as.
The road to this tournament has never been straightforward.
After winning the 10th men's singles championship in the adult All Japan Championship, he revealed that he has been feeling sick, such as the ball becoming difficult to see from the previous year.
The selection of the singles for the Tokyo Olympics, which took a year to compete, did not produce the desired results, and missed the singles who won the bronze medal at the previous Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Mizutani
"Until now, I enjoyed playing table tennis regardless of whether I won or lost, but I couldn't face the competition for a year at that time, and I seemed to dislike table tennis."
Still, based on past achievements, mixed doubles He was selected as the representative of the men's team and made a strong determination on his Twitter account, "I will not regret choosing myself," and attended the fourth Olympics.
The men's group, the 3rd place playoff that became the biggest with medals for 2 consecutive tournaments.
Mizutani made a pair with the same left-handed player Koki Niwa and participated in the first doubles.
The left-handed pair, which is rare in the world, had difficulty in moving due to overlapping standing positions during the rally, and it was expected that they would have a difficult time. Won and gained momentum for the team.
Niwa, who formed a pair, said that the voice from Mizutani was a big help.
Niwa:
"No matter how many mistakes I make, he said,'I can make mistakes, so let's attack bullishly.' That was a great encouragement and I got better."
Japan is the second Ace Tomokazu Harimoto won the singles in the match, leaving only one win until the bronze medal, but Niwa lost in the singles in the third match, and Mizutani went to the singles in the fourth match.
The opponent has never won in the past two matches, and was ranked 12th in the world against Mizutani, who is 20th in the world ranking.
Still, Mizutani invited the opponent's mistake with the receive that dropped the opponent's serve on the net in the first game entwined with deuce, 12 to 12, took it 14 to 12, and also took the second game that follows. There is only one game left until the victory.
Harimoto, who was scheduled to participate in the singles of the fifth game if Mizutani lost, said, "I knew that Mr. Mizutani would decide 100%, so I was hardly preparing myself." I continued to cheer from the bench.
In the third game, he was caught up with 10 to 8 by being robbed of 4 consecutive points from the place where he held the match point with 10 to 4, but at the end he swung the forehand, which he is good at, saying "I have to bring courage". , I decided the bronze medal with the victory.
Director Yosuke Kurashima
"Experienced Mizutani showed a wonderful play without being nervous in that scene" At
a press conference after the match, "I came for a long time thinking that the Tokyo Olympics will be the last tournament to fight as a representative of Japan. That feeling is still the same, "said Mizutani.
He showed the strength of the game on the final stage of the Olympic Games and decorated the endless beauty.