is a Japanese

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. Winner of the 2006 World Junior Championships in singles, he was the world number one junior player in 2008. He is world-renowned for his tomahawk serve, which he has popularized throughout his career. The serve itself is rather unorthodox but still ample in efficiency, making it even more effective due to its unfamiliar nature. His serve has been one of the imperative factors in his illustrious junior career, alongside making him a top 50 player for many years. He also utilizes its reverse variation. Matsudaira became well known on the world stage after his match against the Olympic champion Ma Lin at the

2009 World Table Tennis Championships The 2009 H.I.S. World Table Tennis Championships were held in Yokohama, Japan, from 28 April to 5 May 2009. The Chinese team dominated the competition, following their sweep of the gold medals in table tennis at the 2008 Summer Olympics. It was t ...

, where he demonstrated his advanced tomahawk serves, compact and explosive technique, alongside his dynamic backhand control. He won two straight games from a 1–3 deficit and held the lead at 4–1 in the seventh (he lost the set 11–9). Later, he beat Ma 4–1 at the

2013 World Table Tennis Championships The 2013 World Table Tennis Championships were held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France, from May 13 to May 20, 2013. The Championships were the 52nd edition of the World Table Tennis Championships. These were the first Champ ...

in the Round of 64. After progressing to the Round of 16 and beating Vladimir Samsonov 4–3, he lost in the quarter-finals to the bronze medalist, Xu Xin, in 6 games. This is regarded as his best performance in his adult career and was considered to have performed the best out of all of the non-Chinese players. He is ranked 17 in the world as of January, 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matsudaira, Kenta Living people Japanese male table tennis players 1991 births Asian Games medalists in table tennis Table tennis players at the 2010 Asian Games Table tennis players at the 2014 Asian Games Table tennis players at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games bronze medalists for Japan Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games World Table Tennis Championships medalists Kinoshita Meister Tokyo players People from Nanao, Ishikawa