The players of the Japan National Team, who won medals at the table tennis world championships held in South Africa, held a press conference on the 31st, and Hina Hayata, who won the bronze medal in women's singles, said, "It gave me confidence, but I was confronted with the reality that I was still improving."
At the Table Tennis World Championships held in South Africa from 20 to 28 this month Japan, Tomokazu Harimoto and Hayata won silver medals in mixed doubles, Hayata won bronze medals in women's singles, and Miyu Kihara and Miyu Nagasaki won bronze medals in women's doubles.
The players of the Japan National Team, who returned to Japan on the 30th, held a press conference in Tokyo on the 31st.
Hayata, who won two of these medals, commented on her close victory in the quarterfinals of the women's singles against the world No. 2 Chinese player, "What we have been doing so far has not been easy to get results, and there were some difficult parts, but it gave us a lot of confidence to win on a big stage where the Chinese players also set their sights." Reflecting on his loss to world No. 3 Sun Yingli of China in the semifinals, he said, "I was confronted with the reality when I was still on the upswing, and I felt that there were many things I needed to do."
Regarding the mixed doubles match where they lost to the Chinese pair in the final, he said, "We have to acquire the strength to compete in other things while our opponents are dealing with us and our strengths are erased."
Harimoto, who will be paired with Hayata, said, "There are many issues in terms of technique and tactics, but I felt the difference between me and the Chinese players in terms of whether I can catch one important ball, so I will keep this experience in mind."
Kihara, who won the bronze medal in the women's doubles, said, "I was able to learn what I am capable of, and the selection process for the Paris Olympics will be an important time in the future, so I will do my best to do what I can now," while Nagasaki, who teamed up with the team, said, "I am very happy that I was able to win the medal that I was aiming for. However, I realized that I can't beat any player with just the patterns I am good at, so I want to think about each ball one ball at a time in practice and cultivate my match intuition."