Japan’s Ai Fukuhara, famous for bursting into tears on national television as a toddler, has been given top billing at the world table tennis championships before even pinging a ball in anger.
The 20-year-old brought practice to a standstill on Tuesday, spending more than two hours tossing balls high into the air to see how the lights at arena would affect her serve.
Japanese camera crews tripped over themselves to film Fukuhara, who has little realistic chance of disrupting China’s dominance at the championships in Yokohama.
PHOTO: AFP
“I was working out exactly where to throw the ball into the lights,” Fukuhara was quoted as saying in Japanese newspapers yesterday. “I’m beginning to get excited about the championships.”
Fukuhara will take center stage, with one of the courts already being christened “Ai-chan’s Court” (Little Ai’s Court).
Once the darling of the Japanese media, Fukuhara appeared regularly on TV shows as a child where she would throw tantrums and wail out loud if she lost a point to celebrities.
Earlier this year, eight-year-old Miu Hirano eclipsed Fukuhara’s record by becoming the youngest player to appear at the Japanese championships.
Fukuhara, Japan’s flag-bearer at the Beijing Olympics last August, was 10 when she first competed at national level in 1998.
Hirano, who can barely see over the net, and has to be coaxed away from her mother’s side to play matches, is not appearing at the world championships.
In qualifying action yesterday Welshman Adam Robertson defeated Dino Suarez of Ecuador.
Robertson coasted to an 11-2, 11-2, 12-10, 11-6 win over Suarez to reach today’s first round of the tournament.
Crystal Huang of the US advanced to the first round of the women’s singles with an 11-6, 11-4, 11-3, 11-1 win over Armenia’s Tatevik Yengibaryan.
China is expected to dominate the championships after winning all the table tennis gold medals at the Beijing Olympics.
Chinese players will be the top-four seeds in both the men’s and women’s singles.
The championships feature men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tomorrow for the final berth at next year's World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome yesterday. The home team's loss means that Nicaragua finishes No. 1 in the qualifier round held in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to the games. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier yesterday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, finished third, while South Africa placed at the bottom
RSS