In the past few days, the All Japan Championship is in full swing, and Tomokazu Zhang, Mimachi Ito and others have competed for the championship. Among the many players who participated in the competition, one person attracted much attention, not because of his achievements, but because of his experience, and this player was Yoshida Haiwei.
Although he is 40 years old, Yoshida Haiwei has made it all the way to the men's singles round of 16 and met Niwa Takashi, the main player of Japanese table tennis. In the first set of the two sides, Yoshida Haiwei caused some trouble for Niwa Takashi, and the two sides fought to a 10 draw at one point, but Niwa Takashi still won the set. In the following three sets, Yoshida Haiwei basically had no chance, and finally lost the game 0-4, missing the men's singles quarterfinals.
Despite losing the match, Yoshida's results have been very good, after all, he is already a 40-year-old veteran. In fact, Yoshida Haiwei was once a brother of the Japanese table tennis team, and he was originally a Chinese national. Yoshida Haiwei, whose original name was Song Haiwei, was born in Hebei, began practicing at the age of 7, and trained at the Zhengding Table Tennis School in Hebei Province until the age of 15, a chance that changed his fate.
One day in 1997, a Japanese high school table tennis team came to Hebei Zhengding Table Tennis School for exchanges, and coach Yoshida of this team took a fancy to Song Haiwei and brought him to Japan. After three years of high school and two years of short-lived college in Japan, Song Joined the Nissan Club in Japan and gradually grew into an excellent athlete. In order to thank Coach Yoshida for his cultivation, Song Haiwei deliberately changed his name to Yoshida Haiwei.
Although I changed my Japanese name, I still need to change my nationality if I want to join the Japanese team. Therefore, in March 2004, 23-year-old Yoshida Haiwei officially joined the Japanese nationality and became a member of the Japanese table tennis team. In the 2005 All Japan Championships, Yoshida Haiwei defeated Wei Guan Harumitsu in one fell swoop and won the men's singles championship, becoming a Japanese table tennis brother. Wei Guan Qingguang, whose original name was Wei Qingguang, was once an Olympic champion in national table tennis, but has since become a naturalized Japanese.
Unfortunately, Yoshida did not qualify for the Beijing Olympics. After joining the Japanese team, Yoshida's best result was the team third place at the 2010 World Table Tennis Championships. Although he has long since faded out of the Japanese national team, Yoshida Haiwei is not far from the field, and the 40-year-old is still playing, which also shows his love for the sport of table tennis.