The table tennis men's doubles final of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games was held on the 27th, and on China's social media platform Weibo, the topic of Tomokazu Harimoto, who lost to the Chinese pair, 'admitting the existence of a skill gap' emerged.

The Harimoto-Shinozuka Hiroto pair secured a come-from-behind victory against China's Wen Ruibo-Xiang Peng pair in the semifinals on the same day, advancing to the final. In the final, they played against the Huang Youzheng-Lin Shidong pair and lost 2-4.

China's sports media outlet Zhibo8 reported this result and stated that "Harimoto gave an interview after the match," introducing that he was heard saying, "There was a possibility of a gold medal, but in the end, there was a skill gap." It also reported that he mentioned their points for reflection.

In response, a Chinese netizen commented, "If he has the attitude to face reality, there is room for growth." While some negative opinions were also heard, "His interviews are always truly frank," and "He always reflects on his shortcomings and doesn't look for excuses. He is worthy of praise in this regard," were some of the other comments.