On May 1, Yoshijun Ishikawa announced his retirement, officially ending his 23-year table tennis career.
Yoshijun Ishikawa retired a little suddenly, so much so that she herself took the initiative to apologize to fans in a statement, "In order to be able to play the last game of her table tennis career with all her strength, I did not announce the news of her retirement in advance." ”
Yoshijun Ishikawa ended his table tennis career.
But now it seems that there are traces of all this. After losing to Chen Meng in the women's singles 1/8 final of the WTT Macau Championship 10 days ago, Ishikawa Jiachun was not too frustrated, but took the initiative to invite Chen Meng to eliminate her Chen Meng in two consecutive WTT tournaments, and the two smiled and took a photo.
Can say Chinese, regard Ma Long as an idol, and compete with Liu Shiwen for the ITTF official seat, most of her life trajectory is related to China, so much so that she specially thanked Chinese table tennis and Chinese fans with Chinese.
From learning the ball to retiring, between Ishikawa Jiachun and Guoping, it is a two-way beauty.
Yoshijun Ishikawa and her Chinese coach.
The five coaches are all "made in China"
Yoshijun Ishikawa is a typical Japanese table tennis genius girl.
He officially practiced at the age of 7, and in 2007, he became the second junior high school student to enter the quarterfinals of the Japan Table Tennis Championships since Ai Fukuhara, and in the same year, he became the youngest player in the history of Japanese table tennis to participate in the World Table Tennis Championships.
These are not unrelated to Yoshijun Ishikawa's background. Yoshijun Ishikawa was born in February 1993 in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. Since his parents are both Japanese table tennis players, and his mother is a former member of the Japanese national team, Kumi Ishikawa, Yoshijun Ishikawa has been exposed to table tennis culture since he was a child.
In the third grade of elementary school that impressed Yoshijun Ishikawa the most, his parents simply added a table tennis room at home.
"I was shocked at the time, I didn't expect to build a table tennis room on the first floor, at first I thought my mother was joking, and I was just learning table tennis." Recalling the scene at the beginning of the practice, Yoshijun Ishikawa sighed, "As an elementary school student, I really feel great pressure, and I feel that there is no way back at this moment. ”
In addition to the influence of family culture, Ishikawa Yoshijun's growth path is full of Chinese shadows.
Yoshijun Ishikawa thanked the Chinese fans.
At the beginning of the practice, Yoshijun Ishikawa's coach was the mother of a former Japanese national player, but as his performance improved, Yoshijun Ishikawa began his journey of cooperation with Chinese coaches. Among them, Zhang Rui, Chen Lili, Li Lu, Wang Rui, Qiu Jianxin, five domestic coaches, have all cooperated with Ishikawa Jiachun.
As Yoshijun Ishikawa wrote in his retirement statement: "Since middle school, I have trained with Chinese coaches at every stage, and along the way, I have met many coaches who have helped me, which are precious to me, and I have begun to contact and absorb Chinese culture and Chinese little by little." ”
"Because of the meeting, I Chinese can communicate with my Chinese friends and fans, and I am really happy."
The most direct result of such "cultural export" is that Yoshijun Ishikawa learned standard Northeastern Mandarin.
As early as the 2009 China Open, 16-year-old Yoshijun Ishikawa showed off a Chinese. When a Chinese reporter asked her what food she wanted to try, she smiled and said while competing in Tianjin: "Are there any buns in Tianjin?" I want to eat that. ”
At that time, Wang Rui, the coach of Ishikawa Jiachun, said: "She said that if she won the competition today, she said let me invite her to eat Tianjin buns." But didn't win, it's a bit of a pity. Overall it's good, you can treat her to a meal. ”
In many news stories filmed by Japanese media, it is common to see Yoshijun Ishikawa still using Mandarin to communicate with coaches during training.
Sincerity, Yoshijun Ishikawa's special move
Perhaps growing up in the hands of Chinese coaches, Yoshijun Ishikawa has a strong affinity with Chinese athletes.
In the women's team final of the 2012 London Olympics, Yoshijun Ishikawa, together with Ai Fukuhara and Hayaka Hirano, won the women's team silver medal, which was also the first Olympic medal in the history of Japanese table tennis.
At the award ceremony, the three girls stepped onto the podium hand in hand, and it was not until the medal hung around his neck that Yoshijun Ishikawa sighed: "It turns out that the Olympic medal is so heavy." ”
In the women's team final at the Tokyo Olympics, Yoshijun Ishikawa (center) and her teammates won the silver medal.
When she took a commemorative photo on the podium, she found the shining gold medal on Ding Ning's chest, so she asked: "Can I touch the gold medal?" Ding Ning readily agreed to Ishikawa Jiachun's request.
In an interview with The Paper, Yoshijun Ishikawa once explained his relationship with Chinese athletes.
"Speaking of friendship with Chinese athletes, my relationship with Liu Shiwen dates back to when I was in elementary school, when she came to Japan and we took a group photo together, which left an impression."
"After I went to high school, I started to participate in international competitions, often greeted and chatted with Chinese players, and then became good friends with Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha."
"Food is a common passion between us, they love yakiniku very much, and when I come to Japan to compete, I take them to eat yakiniku. There are also many delicious things in China, such as hot pot and coconut chicken. ”
"And for Chinese culture, I like panda very much, I also love Chinese pop songs, and I often listen to Chinese singers such as Jay Chou."
Chinese fans cheer for Ishikawa Jiajun.
Yoshijun Ishikawa has said more than once in public that he wants to team up with Chinese athletes, and the most circulated form of this story on the Internet in Chinese is - "Yoshijun Ishikawa calls himself the number one fan of Malon".
The most classic video is when the reporter asks Yoshijun Ishikawa "who will he choose if paired with a Chinese player", and before the question is finished, Yoshijun Ishikawa first looked at his teammates, then covered his mouth with a smile, and even once lay on the table, "If I can really mix doubles, I hope to partner with Malone." ”
After saying this, she herself laughed and leaned back.
After the 2016 Rio Olympics, Ma Long officially announced his girlfriend of 8 years, and a reporter also specially interviewed Yoshijun Ishikawa, who expressed his sincere wishes to Ma Long and jokingly said that he was falling out of love.
Indeed, sincerity is the biggest must-have, and when Ishikawa frequently shows her friendliness, she naturally gets a response from Chinese fans. At both WTT events this year, Yoshijun Ishikawa heard cheers from China on the spot.
She also thanked the Chinese fans in an interview with The Paper: "I am very much looking forward to going to China to play, Chinese fans have always supported me, they will hold banners to cheer, and will make me team fans, key chains, etc., really happy." ”
"Initially, I couldn't believe they were supporting me, but now every time I go to China, there are many people who come to cheer me on, which is really appreciated. So, I'm looking forward to competing in China every time. ”
Go both ways
However, Yoshijun Ishikawa's retirement has long been traceable.
In the Tokyo Olympic cycle, Yoshijun Ishikawa has endured the impact of post-00s players such as Mimato Ito and Miyu Hirano. When it comes to the Paris Olympic cycle, even Mimato Ito can only be regarded as a Mesozoic player in Japanese table tennis.
In the Japan Table Tennis Championships held in January this year, only Yoshijun Ishikawa was the 90s in the women's singles semifinals, and the remaining three were all post-00s - Hina Hayata was born in 2000, Miyu Kihara was born in 2004, and Saki Yokoi was also born in 2004.
If the scope is extended to the quarterfinals of the women's singles, Miu Hirano and Miku Izumo are also post-00 players.
At the same time, Mikazu Changmoto, born in 2008, has gradually emerged in the Japanese table tennis scene, and while she won the youth championship, she also played with Hina Hayada.
So in an interview with Japanese media outlet Chokyu Kingdom last December, when asked "Are you ready to aim for the Paris Olympics", Yoshijun Ishikawa replied: "This is a difficult question to answer, and I think I will face table tennis in a different way." ”
Yoshijun Ishikawa will enjoy life after retirement.
Subsequently, Yoshijun Ishikawa participated in the knockout round of the Japan Women's Team Trials held in March 2022, but she was excluded from the Chengdu World Table Tennis Championships squad after losing the competition, and failed to realize her desire to participate in the World Table Tennis Championships for the 14th time.
At the time, she was ranked eighth in the world and third in Japan, but interview questions had begun to lean towards her plans after retirement.
One of the questions asked what Yoshijun Ishikawa would do in the future, and her answer was: "I want to do things related to table tennis all my life, and I feel that this is the most meaningful job." Because 'ping-pong love' is big, no matter what form it takes. ”
"Hope to expand the boundaries of table tennis through gratitude tours and new activities. I will retire someday, so after I retire, I want to study, to acquire various knowledge, and also to consider going to university. ”
Obviously, Yoshijun Ishikawa has thought a lot about putting down the racket.
As early as the end of 2022, Yoshijun Ishikawa announced that she would run for the position of the ITTF Athletes' Committee, and her slogan was "I want to create an environment where many players can feel at ease and information sharing frequently" on the international stage, and at the same time "I want to explore the rights of individual players".
Unfortunately, Ishikawa Jiachun failed to run successfully, and the coincidence of fate is that it was Liu Shiwen who defeated her successful campaign.
In the days to come, this encounter and bond will surely continue.