is a retired

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

player and Olympic medalist, winning silver at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

and bronze at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

with the Japanese women's team. She is sponsored by

All Nippon Airways , also known as ANA (''Ē-enu-ē'') or is an airline in Japan. Its headquarters are located in Shiodome City Center in the Shiodome area of Minato ward of Tokyo. It operates services to both domestic and international destinations and had mo ...

Table tennis career

Fukuhara began playing at the age of 3 and became a professional at age 10. The following year, she became the youngest player ever to become a member of the Japanese national team. Because of her age, she has been regarded as a "child prodigy" in table tennis. At age 13, in 2002, she became the youngest-ever Japanese representative for the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

. In 2003, she reached the quarter-final, losing to top-seeded

Zhang Yining Zhang Yining (; born 5 October 1981) is a Chinese table tennis player who retired in 2009. She is considered one of the greatest female players in the sport's history. In terms of achievements, she is one of the most successful female table tenn ...

, in her

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

debut in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In 2004, she took part in the World Team Championships and helped Team Japan finish third.

Olympic participation

Fukuhara qualified to participate in the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

in the Asian zone qualifying tournament. The qualification entitled Fukuhara to compete in Athens, at the age of 15 years and 287 days, as the youngest-ever female table tennis player to debut in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. She reached the round of 16 in her first Olympic Games, losing to bronze medalist Kim Kyung-Ah. In April 2005, Fukuhara replaced compatriot Aya Umemura and became the highest-ranked Japanese female on the ITTF World Ranking list. She advanced to the semifinals at the 2005 Women's World Cup, losing to

Guo Yan Guo Yan (, born June 24, 1982 in Beijing, China) is a Chinese table tennis player. Two-time winner of World Cup in 2006 and 2010. In February 2011, she ranked 2nd in the ITTF world ranking. Career records Singles (as of February 3, 2011) *World ...

in the semifinals but beating

Tie Ya Na Tie Ya Na or Tie Yana (; born 13 May 1979) is a table tennis player from Hong Kong, China who won two silver medals at the 2006 Asian Games in the singles and doubles competitions. Tie played for China in the Universiade before emigrating to ...

in the third place match. Fukuhara was directly qualified for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

through world ranking. She was chosen as the national flag bearer for Japan at the Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Fukuhara teamed up with

Sayaka Hirano is a Japanese five-time national table tennis champion. She competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, reaching the third round of the singles competition. She also competed in the team competition, reaching the bronze medal final but losing to So ...

and

Haruna Fukuoka (born 25 January 1984 in Tokushima) is a Japanese table tennis player. She competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an internati ...

at the women's team event. They reached the bronze medal contest but lost to South Korea. In the singles event, Fukuhara advanced to round of 16, losing to gold medalist

. She also qualified directly for the

London 2012 Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

with her world ranking in June 2011, but lost to

Ding Ning Ding Ning (; born 20 June 1990) is a former Chinese table tennis player. She was the winner of women's singles in the 2011 World Table Tennis Championships. At the 2015 World Table Tennis Championships, Ding won her second world title in ...

on 31 July 2012, (13–15, 6–11, 6–11, and 4–11). At the Women's Team Event semi-finals, she defeated

Feng Tianwei Feng Tianwei (, ) is a Singaporean table tennis player. Born in Harbin, China, she permanently moved to Singapore at the age of 20 under the former Foreign Sports Talent Scheme in March 2007 and commenced her international career in competit ...

(11–9, 11–6, 5–11 and 11–9) in the first match which eventually helped Japan reach their first table tennis finals in the Olympics over Singapore. However, Japan failed to defeat China in the finals but Fukuhara got her first

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

ever in table tennis. Fukuhara also qualified for the

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, where she lost a close semi-final against Germany with her team and later won bronze together with

Kasumi Ishikawa (born 23 February 1993) is a Japanese table tennis player. A regular member of the Japanese national team, she won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, a bronze at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and a silver medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics, ...

and

Mima Ito is a Japanese table tennis player. She won a bronze medal in the Women's Team event at the 2016 Summer Olympics when she was 15 years old. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, she won the gold medal with her partner Jun Mizutani in the Mixed Doubles ev ...

on her side by defeating the team from Singapore. She was also playing for Japan in the Singles event and reached 4th place after losing against

Li Xiaoxia Li Xiaoxia (; born 16 January 1988) is a Chinese table tennis Grand Slam champion. Career She trained in the Jiangsu Wuxi Shanhe Club in Wuxi, China. Her trainer is Li Sun, who is also the mentor of Olympic gold medal winner Zhang Yining. As o ...

and losing in the game for bronze against

Kim Song-i Kim Song-i (; born 10 August 1994) is a North Korean table tennis player. As of November 2017, she is ranked 23rd in the world based on ITTF rankings. Kim plays a highly defensive style with plenty of slice, occasionally injecting pace with top ...

Hong Kong 2009 East Asian Games

Ai Fukuhara won Table Tennis Women's Doubles with

ITTF Kuwait Open 2010

The Kuwait Open 2010 would be Ai's most fruitful competition at that time. On the way to the finals, she caused numerous upsets. Starting off, she upset China by defeating Guo Yue. Later on, she played Singapore's

Wang Yuegu Wang Yuegu (, ; born 10 June 1980) is a retired Chinese-born Singaporean table tennis player who was ranked among the top ten players in the world. Wang made her inaugural appearance as a Singaporean table tennis player on the International Tab ...

, where Ai eventually won 4–2. After two shocking wins, Ai went on to cause another upset to China by beating the experienced top-spin specialist,

. In the highly lauded and suspenseful final, she nearly defeated China's top seed

Liu Shiwen Liu Shiwen (; born 12 April 1991) is a Chinese table tennis player. She is a five-time World Cup champion, one-time World Champion, three-time ITTF World Tour Grand Finals champion and four-time Asian Cup champion. She is known to be one of the ...

, but lost 3–4.

ITTF Japan Open 2013

Fukuhara, who at that time was world number 15, beat two highly rated Chinese opponents on the way to the final before eventually overcoming Moon Hyunjung (KOR) 11-7, 11-5, 13-11, 11-8 to clinch the 2013 Japan Open title. “This is the first time I won the Japan Open, an event which is very special to me. I am very happy to win such a big event in front of so many people. The reason that I won today was the spectators, especially the ones that have followed my whole career.”

Retirement

Fukuhara announced her retirement in October 2018. Fukahara called

her role model in a heartfelt social media post following Ding's announced retirement in 2021.

Popularity

Her first name, Ai, means "love" and she is often referred to as "Ai-chan" (愛ちゃん) in Japan. Her youth and talent have made her a popular sports star in Japan. Fukuhara has appeared in two Japanese table tennis video games, including ''Ikuze! Onsen Takkyū!!'' (Do it! Hot Spring Table Tennis!!), released on 21 December 2001 and ''Fukuhara Ai No Takkyū Icchokusen'' (Ai Fukuhara's Table Tennis), released on 24 June 2004, both for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

. She carried the Olympic flame when it traveled to Tokyo in 2004. She carried the torch once again for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, and was the flag bearer for the Japanese national team at the Opening Ceremonies. Since she has been playing table tennis in China from a very young age, Fukuhara can speak fluent

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of ...

with a Northeastern accent. Therefore, she has greater popularity in China than any other table tennis players from outside of China. In an incident widely reported by the Chinese media, she wrote down "中日友好" (meaning "Sino-Japanese friendship" in both Chinese and Japanese) when meeting Wang Yi, then Chinese ambassador to Japan (now the Minister of Foreign Affairs), at the height of the

2005 anti-Japanese demonstrations The anti-Japanese demonstrations of 2005 were a series of demonstrations, some peaceful, some violent, which were held across most of East Asia in the spring of 2005. They were sparked off by a number of issues, including the approval of a Japane ...

. In July 2005, Fukuhara guest-starred alongside Chinese actor

Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...

during the opening of a photograph exhibition, in

Roppongi Hills is a List of development projects in Tokyo, development project in Tokyo and one of Japan's largest Real estate development, integrated property developments, located in the Roppongi district of Minato, Tokyo. Constructed by building tycoon Mi ...

, to celebrate 60 years of peaceful coexistence between China and Japan. During Chinese President

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese politician who served as the 16–17th general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the 6th president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 2003 to 2013, an ...

's visit to Japan in 2008, Hu played table tennis with Fukuhara at

Waseda University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the ''Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō'' by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the school was formally renamed Waseda University in 1902. The university has numerou ...

Personal life

Fukuhara attended Aomori Yamada Junior High School and graduated from Aomori Yamada High School in 2007. Both schools are located in the city of

Aomori is the capital city of Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 278,964 in 136,457 households, and a population density of 340 people per square kilometer spread over the city's total area of ...

Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, ...

. In 2007, she enrolled in

's sports science department; she decided to drop out in 2010 to focus on her table tennis competitions. As a teenager, Fukuhara trained with the

China national table tennis team The China national table tennis team is the national representative team of the People's Republic of China, and was founded in 1952. Players Men's team Women's team ^: Not the regular player. Staffs Team manager and Head coaches Men's fir ...

and competed as a foreign recruit for

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...

in the

China Table Tennis Super League China Table Tennis Super League (, CTTSL) is the top table tennis division under the Chinese Table Tennis Association. The last finisher of the CTTSL will be relegated to the China Table Tennis Jia League A Group. The top two finishers of the Jia ...

, and is very good friend with world champions such as Wang Nan and Guo Yue. She is fluent in

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

and speaks with a distinctly Northeastern accent, as a result of her time in Liaoning and her close relationship with personal coach Tang Yuanyuan (who was a

Fushun Fushun (, formerly romanised as ''Fouchouen'', using French spelling, also as Fuxi ()) is a prefecture level city in Liaoning province, China, about east of Shenyang, with a total area of , of which is the city proper. Situated on the Hun Ri ...

native). She has been a well-loved sport celebrity among Chinese players and fans, who often affectionately call her "Ai-chan" (爱酱). Fukuhara married Taiwanese table tennis player

Chiang Hung-chieh Chiang Hung-chieh (; born 22 February 1989) is a Taiwanese table tennis player. He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics as part of the Taiwan's team in the men's team event. He married Japanese table tennis player Ai Fukuhara is a retire ...

in 2016 following the

Rio Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

. She gave birth to their daughter on Friday 13 October 2017. Their marriage life was the subject of a Chinese reality show. In March 2021, Fukuhara and Chiang filed for divorce. The couple jointly announced their divorce in July 2021.

References

External links