Japanese table tennis star Ai Fukuhara announces retirement
Xinhua
Updated:
11:33 AM (GMT+8) Oct 22, 2018
Ai Fukuhara celebrates with her trophy and medal after winning Japan Table Tennis Championships Women's Singles Final at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan, Jan 21, 2012. [Photo/IC]
TOKYO - Japanese table tennis star Ai Fukuhara announced on Sunday that she is retiring from competition.
"Recently, I've found the answers within myself that I have been searching for. From the standpoint of an athlete, I'm drawing the line here," she wrote on her blog.
"I first gripped a racket at the age of three years and nine months, turned professional at 10 and began playing for the national team at 11," she wrote, adding that it had been a long journey.
As the Japanese young players are making fast progress, she said she could now retire and hoped to continue to make contribution to table tennis and the sports communities.
The 29-year-old Fukuhara was regarded as a "child prodigy" in table tennis in Japan. She went to China for training at a very young age and can speak fluent Mandarin with a northeastern accent.
The Japanese women's table tennis team led by Fukuhara won the silver at the London Olympics in 2012 and the bronze at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Fukuhara married a table tennis player from Chinese Taipei in 2016, gave birth to a baby girl last year and has not competed since.
Japanese table tennis player Ai Fukuhara, 5, competes in an exhibition match at Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium in June, 1995. [Photo/IC]
Japanese table tennis player Ai Fukuhara competes in the Ogimura Cup tournament at Kobe Central Gymnasium at the age of 11 in this file photo taken in June of 2000. [Photo/IC]
Then-14-year-old Ai Fukuhara, who reached the women's quarterfinals in the World Tennis Championships in Paris, speaks at a news conference at Narita airport on May 27 after returning to Japan in 2003. [Photo/IC]
Japanese table tennis player Ai Fukuhara leads the Japanese Olympic delegation during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games at the National Stadium in Beijing on Aug. 8, 2008. [Photo/IC]
Japanese table tennis player Ai Fukuhara (R) and table tennis player Chiang Hung-Chieh from Chinese Taipei attend their wedding ceremony at Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, near Tokyo, Japan, on Feb 5, 2017. [Photo/IC]
Japanese table tennis player Ai Fukuhara celebrates her 27th birthday during 2015 ITTF Women's World Cup Sendai in Sendai, Japan. [Photo/IC]
Japanese table tennis player Ai Fukuhara is pictured as she prepares to throw out the first pitch for Lamigo Monkeys in Taoyuan, Taiwan, 13 May 2018. [Photo/IC]
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