Harimoto’s thrilling 8-11, 16-14, 11-9, 11-9, 3-11, 13-15, 11-9 victory over Croatian Tan Ruiwu sealed his place in the knockout phase of the competition, which followed a comprehensive straight games success against Tomas Polansky of the Czech Republic.

The world number 286 faces a baptism of fire in his maiden appearance in the main draw as he will take on world number one Ma Long, the reigning Olympic and world champion.

His triumph over Ruiwu proved to be the shock of the event so far as the Croatian is ranked some 214 places above the Japanese prodigy.

“I'm happy that I'm the youngest to ever make it to the main draw,” Harimoto, who is 12 years, three months and six days old, said.

“I started playing table tennis when I was only two years old, because of my parents.

“They were table tennis players too, and they inspired me to play.

“When I was a little boy, I would sit on a chair and try to play table tennis, now, I practice nine hours every day.

“Now I will join my idol Fan Zhendong in the main draw, and I hope I can win as many matches as I can here in Warsaw.

“Regardless if it's junior or senior level, I want to play my highest level.”

Despite the feat of reaching the main draw at such a young age, Harimoto is not resting on his laurels and admits there is much room for improvement as he prepares to go up against the world’s top-ranked table tennis player.

“Even though I won against Tan Ruiwu, and finished first in my group here, my block is still not perfect, and it's one area that I will have to improve on,” he added.

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