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. 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 The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, she won the gold medal with her partner

Jun Mizutani is a retired Japanese table tennis player. He became the youngest Japanese national champion at the age of 17. His consecutive singles titles at the national championships from 2007 to 2011 made him the first man to win the event five times in ...

in the Mixed Doubles event which made its debut, a bronze medal in the Women's singles, and a silver medal in the Women's Team event. Often termed as the 'greatest threat' to Chinese table tennis dominance, Ito Mima has the highest winning rate against Chinese players in the history of women's table tennis. She has a winning record against several top Chinese players, including world champion

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 ...

, former world no. 1

Zhu Yuling Zhu Yuling (; born 10 January 1995) is a Chinese table tennis player. Career She was born in Mianyang in 1995 and played table tennis from the age of 5 as it occupied her when she was ill. At nine years old she and her mother moved so that she ...

and world junior champion Qian Tianyi. Her signature playing style entails lethal shovel serves, fast short-pimpled backhand punches and flat forehand smashes. In March 2020 at the Qatar Open, Ito Mima recorded a 4–0 win against reigning Olympic champion

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 ...

in the semifinals. Notably, she won the third set 11–0, making it the first time a non-Chinese player won a set 11–0 against a Chinese player.

Career

Junior

At the age of ten, she became the youngest person to win a match at the Japanese senior table tennis championships and the youngest person to win an ITTF Junior Circuit tournament. At eleven she defeated the player ranked 50th in the world at the time. At the age of 14, she moved in June 2015 for the first time into the Top 10 in the world rankings before she was defeated by Han Ying and

Chen Meng Chen Meng (; born 15 January 1994) is a Chinese table tennis player and the current World No. 2 in Women's Singles. She joined the provincial team when she was 9 and joined the national team when she was only 13 in 2007. She is the women's singl ...

, reaching World Rank No. 9. In March 2014, she, together with

Miu Hirano (born 14 April 2000) is a Japanese table tennis player. She won Women's World Cup in 2016 as the youngest ever winner. She won the women's singles at the 2017 Asian Table Tennis Championships by sweeping away three top Chinese players. She comp ...

, won the doubles' title at German Open. They were both 13 at the time. Thus they became the youngest-ever winners of a doubles competition in the

ITTF World Tour The ITTF World Tour, known as the ITTF Pro Tour until 2011, is an annual series of table tennis tournaments introduced by International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) in 1996. The tour includes events in seven categories: Men's and Women's Single ...

. In April 2014, she again won a double title with Miu Hirano, at the

in Spain. In December 2014, she won again the doubles with Miu Hirano at the

ITTF World Tour Grand Finals The ITTF World Tour Grand Finals, formerly named ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals, is an annual table tennis tournament sanctioned by International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) at the end of the year. The tournament includes seven events: men's and wome ...

in Bangkok against the Singaporean partnership

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 competi ...

and

Yu Mengyu Yu Mengyu (; born 18 August 1989) is a retired Chinese-born Singaporean table tennis player. Born in Liaoning, China, Yu left China in 2006 at the age of 17 to join the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA). She was part of the team that ...

, and at that moment Miu Hirano and Mima Ito became the youngest players winning the

. In March 2015, she won, after beating

Shan Xiaona Shan Xiaona (; born 18 January 1983 in Anshan, Liaoning, China) is a Chinese-born naturalised German table tennis player. She represented Germany at the 2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,23 ...

, Che Xiaoxi and

, the singles' title at German Open against

Petrissa Solja Petrissa Solja (born 11 March 1994) is a German table tennis player. Solja won silver in the team event in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She reached her highest world ranking of thirteenth in March 2016. Personal life Solja was bor ...

. On 5 July 2015, Mima Ito and Miu Hirano won the Women's Doubles title at the

on the Korea Open in the city of Incheon. In December 2015, the 2015 ITTF Star Awards, a Breakthrough Star Award presented by TMS International was given out to Japan's Mima Ito. At 14 years and 153 days old when she won the 2015 ITTF World Tour German Open singles title on Sunday 22 March she became the youngest player ever to win a women’s singles title either on the ITTF World Tour or at an ITTF Challenge Series tournament. In September 2015, it was announced that she would be part of the Japanese national team at the 2016 Summer Olympics in

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 ...

. At 15 years of age, she won the bronze medal for Japan, where she won the last and important game against Feng Tianwei (Ranked 4th in the world), with 3–0 in sets for the Japanese women's table tennis team with

Ai Fukuhara is a retired Japanese table tennis player and Olympic medalist, winning silver at the 2012 Summer Olympics and bronze at the 2016 Summer Olympics with the Japanese women's team. She is sponsored by All Nippon Airways. Table tennis career Fuk ...

and

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 ...

. With her bronze medal in Rio, she broke another record for the youngest Olympic table tennis player to win a medal in the Women's Team category. In 2017, she played for the Liaoning team in the second-tier Chinese league.

2018

In January 2018, she won the women's singles at the All Japan Championship for the first time by defeating Miu Hirano in the final. She also won women's doubles with

Hina Hayata is a Japanese international table tennis player. She is the most successful player on the ITTF Challenge Series since its inception in 2017. Owing to her stature, she is able to generate powerful spins on both wings more so than most female pla ...

and the mixed doubles with

Masataka Morizono is a Japanese table tennis player. With doubles partner Yuya Oshima, he won the gold medal in the men's doubles event at both the 2015 and 2017 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals, as well as winning a silver medal in men's doubles at the 2017 World C ...

and achieved a triple crown. The triple crown is the third in the history of the All Japan Table Tennis Championships after Kazuko Yamaizumi (1960) and Kasumi Ishikawa (2014), and she was the youngest to achieve this feat at the age of 17 years old. In February, at the Team World Cup , where a new method of playing doubles in the first game was introduced, she played mainly in doubles with Hina Hayata and won a silver medal. In May, in the 2018 World Team Table Tennis Championships, she defeated Jeon Ji-hee 3–0 in the semifinals and

, who has won 37 consecutive victories against Japanese players, in the first match in the final. She won 3–2 against her. The Japanese team eventually lost to China 1–3 and won a silver medal, but Ito herself finished the tournament with eight wins and zero losses. In June, at the Japan Open, she beat Chen Xingtong in the women's singles semi-final after coming back from 0–3 deficit. She then went on to beat Wang Manyu in the final. In November 2018, she beat all the top Chinese players ranked higher than her: world no. 6 and Olympic Singles gold medalist

, world no. 2

and world no. 1

at the 2018 Swedish Open, winning the tournament.

2019–2020

In November 2019, she beat world junior champion Qian Tianyi and

to win the Austrian Open. In January 2020, it was announced that Ito Mima would be part of the women's table tennis team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, together with

and

. Earlier on, she had been the first player to be selected to play in the Women's Singles event. In February, she won the Hungarian Open 2020, beating Taiwanese top player Cheng I-Ching 4–3. In March 2020, Ito Mima and

won the Mixed Doubles category at the Qatar Open, beating Chinese pair Sun Yingsha and

Wang Chuqin Wang Chuqin ( simplified Chinese: 王楚钦; born 11 May 2000) is a Chinese table tennis player who is currently world rank number 2 in ITTF and is the top left hand player. Most recently, he was the silver medallist in Men's singles, gold medall ...

3–1 in the finals. In November 2020, she won the bronze medal in the 2020 Women's World Cup, losing to Sun Yingsha in the semifinals, but beating Han Ying in the 3rd–4th place match. Also in November 2020, she won the bronze medal in the 2020 ITTF Finals, losing to Wang Manyu in the semifinals.

2021

In 2021, Ito reached the finals of the Japan National Championships before losing 4–3 to Kasumi Ishikawa. On the way to the finals, she avenged her 2020 loss to Hina Hayata. In March, Mima Ito won the WTT Contender Event at WTT Doha, again defeating Hina Hayata in the finals. She also won the ensuing WTT Star Contender event, defeating potential Olympic opponents Jeon Ji-hee in the semi-finals and Feng Tianwei in the finals, capping off an undefeated run at WTT Doha (albeit there were no Chinese players due to concerns about COVID-19). As a result of her performance at WTT Doha, Ito passed Sun Yingsha for number two in the world rankings. However, in April, ITTF amended the rules so that for the Tokyo Olympics, she would be seeded below Sun Yingsha. In June, Ito's mixed doubles teammate

stated that they had a 70–80% chance of winning a medal at the Tokyo Olympics and a 30% chance of winning gold. In an interview to Chinese media,

Deng Yaping Deng Yaping (; born February 6, 1973) is a Chinese table tennis player, who won eighteen world championships including four Olympic championships between 1989 and 1997. She is regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. ...

stated that Ito was not a serious threat to challenge China at the Tokyo Olympics. However, one week later, Liu Guoliang praised Japan and hinted that China was taking Japan as a serious threat in every event. In an interview in late June, Ito stated that she was ready to play even if the Olympics were to be held the next day, and that she was hoping to take home three gold medals in Tokyo. Ito was paired with

in the Mixed Doubles event which made its debut at the

. In the quarter-finals against Germany’s

Patrick Franziska Patrick Franziska (born 11 June 1992) is a German table tennis player. He is currently sponsored by Butterfly and plays with FC Saarbrücken-TT in the German Bundesliga (TTBL). Career 2021 Patrick Franziska represented Germany at the Tokyo ...

and

, Ito and Jun advanced by prevailing in the seventh set 16–14 after saving seven match points. On 26 July 2021, Ito and Jun won the gold medal, becoming the first non-Chinese to win a gold in a table tennis event since 2004. Ito was praised for her aggressive play as critical in their comeback 4–3 finals win (after initially trailing 2–0) over the number one-ranked pair of China's

and Xu Xin. Mima Ito reached the women’s singles semi-finals of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics comfortably, beating Jeon Ji-hee 4–0 (building a 10–0 lead in one game before giving Jeon a mercy point) in the quarter-finals. However, in the semi-finals Mima Ito was crushed 4–0 by Sun Yingsha. She would go on to win bronze in the women's singles event. Ito stated that in regards to skill level, there was "a gulf in class" between China and Japan. “What I was doing was not bad, but the results showed that we are not even close", Ito said following her defeat to Sun Yingsha. Ito later competed in the team event and made it to the final match against China on 5 August 2021. Her teammates Ishikawa and Hirano won the first game in the opening doubles however their lead was soon wiped out after Chen Meng and Wang Manyu had gained ground, winning 9–11, 11–6, 11–8, 11–7. Ito was unable to beat Sun Yingsha, going down 11–8, 11–5, 3–11, 11–3. Ito's team eventually lost the game after Wang beat Hirano 11–5, 11–9, 11–3 in the third match with the total score of 0–3 losing to China and consequently taking the Silver medal. After the game, Ito said "The last match is over and we enjoyed ourselves. Of course, we wanted to win and it stings to lose but it was fun."

Playing style

Ito has a unique and constantly innovating playing style characterized by short pips on her backhand, fast flat smashes on the forehand, and a unique serve. As a result of Ito's creative returns with the short pips against short serves, opponents tend to serve fast long serves more often against her, even if it means yielding the opening. In an essay in April 2021, Ito said that she felt her style was to finish the point in two or three shots. Both Liu Guoliang and Deng Yaping have praised Ito for her creativity and willingness to experiment and innovate in-match. Deng Yaping also praised Ito's tendency to mount comebacks based on her willingness to take risks and swing at difficult shots when she is losing by a lot.

Awards

* 2015: ITTF Breakthrough Star of the Year

Singles titles

In popular culture

Ito had a minor role in the 2017 film ''

Mixed Doubles Mixed doubles or mixed pairs is a form of mixed-sex sports that consists of teams of one man and one woman. This variation of competition is prominent in curling and racket sports, such as tennis, table tennis and badminton (where it is known as ...

''. In 2018, she appeared in the music video of

Little Glee Monster Little Glee Monster (リトルグリーモンスター, Ritoru Gurī Monsutā) is a Japanese girl vocal group, formed in 2013. The group currently consists of Asahi Kobayashi, Mayu Yoshida, Karen Koga, Mika Fujihira, Yumi Nagai, and Kamala Miyu ...

's single "Sekai wa Anata ni Waraikakete Iru" (世界はあなたに笑いかけている; "The World is Smiling at You".)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ito, Mima 2000 births Living people Japanese female table tennis players Olympic table tennis players of Japan Table tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in table tennis Olympic bronze medalists for Japan Olympic gold medalists for Japan Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Iwate Prefecture World Table Tennis Championships medalists Japanese expatriate sportspeople in China Olympic silver medalists for Japan 21st-century Japanese women