Ai Fukuhara (福原愛) is a Japanese Table Tennis player, born November 1, 1988 in the town of Sendai (Miyagi Prefecture).

A Young Talent

Following her mother being also a table tennis player, she begins playing table tennis at the age of 3 and becomes professional at 10. The following year, she becomes the youngest player to enter the Japanese national team. At 13 (2002), she reaches the quarterfinals of the Japan championships of table tennis. In the following year (2003), she finishes fifth in the world championship in Paris. In 2004, she takes part in the world team championships and finished third with Japan.

Olympic Games in Athens

She participates her first Olympic Games in Athens at the age of 15. She reaches the round of 16.

Result

• 2nd Round: winner of Australian Miao Miao with the score of 4-3.
• 3rd Round: winner of American Jun Gao with the score of 4-0.
• 4th Round: defeat by Korean Kyung Ah Kim (金景娥) with the score of 1-4.

The symbol

Her first name Ai, which means "love" and often referred as "Ai-chan" (愛ちゃん) by Japanese people and becoming the symbol of young people who fights to overcome the difficulties in life. For this reason, she carried the Olympic flame when it travels to Tokyo in 2004 .

Ai Fukuhara appears in a Japanese video game of table tennis, Fukuhara Have No Takkyû Icchokusen , left in June 2004 on Playstation 2

External Link

Ai Fukuhara Official Supporters' Club