Author 丨 Wang Jiahui Editor 丨 Guan Junran
At the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games, Yoshijun Ishikawa, a famous Japanese table tennis player wearing a white mask and a ponytail, stood under the flag of the five rings and solemnly swore an oath as an athlete's representative, along with Japanese male track and field athlete Ryota Yamagata.
After the opening ceremony, she wrote on social platforms: "Yesterday was an unforgettable day in my life, a scene that I could not have dreamed of since I started playing table tennis at the age of 7. Standing on this stage has received a lot of support. Thank you so much. ”
At the Olympic Games, Ishikawa was also appointed as the vice captain of the Japanese Olympic team and the captain of the Japanese women's table tennis team. On the list of the most popular female athletes of 2020 by the Japanese media, Yoshinori Ishikawa ranked third, behind swimmer Rihanako Ikee and tennis player Naomi Osaka. Ishikawa is also a Japanese athlete who is very popular with Chinese fans, and she won the nickname "Ai Fukuhara" for her "Tohoku Dialect Level 10" and her intimate interaction with Chinese fans.
Ai Fukuhara holds a magazine "Table Tennis Kingdom" covered by Yoshinori Ishikawa
At the women's table tennis match held on July 26 and 27, Ishikawa Yoshinori, who won two consecutive games, was interviewed in Japanese and Chinese in turn. When the Japanese team won the mixed doubles title, she said: "I am very touched that the Japanese team can win the gold medal, and I hope that I can play well in every game and every ball. ”
However, in the women's quarterfinals of table tennis against Singapore's Yu Mengyu, Ishikawa won one set first but was won four sets in a row, ending the quarterfinals. "Honestly, I didn't know what I was doing in the last innings." After the game, she looked down and said, "I am not satisfied with this result, and I am very reluctant to stop here." ”
For Ishikawa, getting a ticket to the Olympic women's singles event was no easy task.
Yoshijun Ishikawa was born on February 23, 1993 in Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi Prefecture, to both parents who are table tennis players. She grew up beating the high school and university groups in the women's singles competition of the Japan Table Tennis Championships in the sixth grade of elementary school.
Yoshinori Ishikawa, who was in the sixth grade of elementary school at the 2005 Japan Table Tennis Championships Women's Singles Tournament
Ishikawa, then known as the "Gifted Girl", won the Japan Table Tennis National Championships four times; the second place in the Sendai World Cup women's singles in 2015 and the mixed doubles runner-up at the Suzhou World Table Tennis Championships; the runner-up in the women's team at the 53rd World Table Tennis Championships in 2016, the bronze medal in the women's table tennis team competition at the Rio Olympic Games; and the mixed doubles champion at the World Table Tennis Championships in 2017.
Today, ishikawa Yoshijun, who has faded from greenery, has stepped onto the Olympic stage for the third time. She doesn't want people to call herself a "veteran." But when ai Fukuhara, a teammate she had played with since childhood, announced her retirement in 2018, she admitted that she was "lonely."
After the 2016 Rio Olympics, Ishikawa has grown into a "sister" in Japanese table tennis. At the same time, the lineup of the Japanese women's table tennis team has also gradually changed. In the process of renewal, new people such as Ito Mimachi and Hirano Miyu emerged, which threatened Ishikawa's status as a "first sister".
In recent years, Ishikawa has always heard questions from the outside world: "She has passed her peak!" "It's better to switch to a younger player!" In the face of doubts, she once confided in an interview: "New challenges are emerging, I will question whether my playing style is correct? After repeated defeats, I wonder if I have grown? These negative thoughts bothered me for a long time, and I even wanted to give up playing at one point. ”
Nikkan Sports Summary Ishikawa Yoshinori Calendar Year's Japanese Championship Results (as of 2019)
The sudden outbreak of the new crown epidemic has swept the world, and major events have been suspended. Unexpectedly, this became an opportunity for Ishikawa Yoshijun to change his mood. During the pandemic, she had more time to be alone with herself and re-examine herself in training. "A lot of things are getting less and less concerned. Without successive matches, I can immerse myself more in the world of table tennis and constantly improve myself. Ishikawa said. During the epidemic, in addition to training, she also began to learn to cook in her spare time.
In the women's singles final of the Japan Table Tennis Championships in January 2021, 28-year-old Yoshinori Ishikawa played against 20-year-old new generation player Ito Mimachi.
Since the champion of the project has been a "post-00s" player for five years, the outside world is generally optimistic about Ito Mimako. Ishikawa won three consecutive sets in a desperate situation of 1-3 behind, and finally defeated Ito Mimachi 4-3 to win the crown after five years. This is the fifth time she has lifted the trophy of the Women's Singles Champion of the Japan Table Tennis Championships, and she wept with joy after receiving the trophy.
Yoshinori Ishikawa, who won the women's singles championship at the All Japan Table Tennis Championships again in five years
In an interview with Japan's largest table tennis portal, Bing Ping Pong Kingdom, she said: "Before the game, I secretly swore that even if it was difficult, I would not give up. I let it go with the mood to prove myself. ”
"After 2016, Ishikawa lost the national championship title, and she is no longer able to beat the young people who are up-and-coming." The Japanese table tennis information website "Table Tennis Report" commented, "But through this competition, Ishikawa once again proved that he is still the first person in the Japanese women's table tennis world." ”
From November 8 to 10, 2020, the ITTF Women's World Cup was held in Nanhai, Weihai, Shandong. Before the game, Ishikawa Yoshijun came to Weihai and updated the social platform: "Long time no see! ”
During the quarantine, she prepared some rice and plum for herself so that she could eat authentic "plum rice" in the room. She joked: "During the quarantine period, I will do some exercise in the room, hoping not to gain weight because of this isolation life." ”
In this competition, Ishikawa Yoshijun as a seeded player against South Korea's Xu Xiaoyuan, and finally won 4-0. She made a slip of the tongue in an interview: "It's been eight years without a game. After saying that, he smiled and corrected: "It's eight months." Standing on the long-lost arena, she was scrappy. Unfortunately, she lost 0-4 to China's Sun Yingsha in the quarterfinals and missed the final four.
Tokyo 2020 Women's Singles Quarterfinals
Although a Japanese player, Ishikawa has a deep relationship with the Chinese table tennis team and Chinese fans. Many Chinese fans joked: "Chun Mei (a chinese fan's affectionate name) is about to marry into China." Like Ai Fukuhara, she also speaks fluent Chinese, is jokingly called "Northeast Dialect Level 10", and has even served as a rescue interpreter for Chinese and Japanese athletes many times.
On many occasions, Ishikawa expressed his respect and admiration for The Chinese table tennis player Ma Long. A reporter asked her which Chinese player she most wanted to play mixed doubles with, and she said somewhat shyly: "All the Chinese players are very strong, and I don't have the ability to ask anyone to partner with me." If you can play mixed doubles, you want to be with Malone! Then Ma Long generously replied, "Ishikawa Yoshizumi wants to cooperate with me, so I will match her!" When asked about emotional issues, she smiled playfully and called her boyfriend a "ping-pong ball."
Yoshijun Ishikawa (left) with Ma Long (right).
Ishikawa Yoshijun was also praised by netizens as a player with "good balls and character". During the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships in Budapest, she teamed up with Makoto Yoshimura against the Chinese duo Liu Shiwen/Xu Xin.
In the third set, the Japanese team took the lead in getting the match point. Ishikawa returned the ball out of bounds, but the referee awarded Japan to win the set. With the big score behind 0-2, the inning was crucial for the Japanese team. However, Ishikawa immediately told the referee that the ball he had just played was not played by the Chinese team. Although the Japanese team eventually lost the match 1-4, Ishikawa won praise for his sportsmanship.
Today, Ishikawa has 570,000 Weibo followers and regularly interacts with Chinese fans. After the opening of the Olympic Games, she shared a tidbit of the oath taking: "It is an honor to swear on behalf of the athletes at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, I will do my best!" ”
Screenshot of Ishikawa Yoshinori Weibo
After Ishikawa missed the table tennis women's singles final four, many Chinese fans also comforted her in Weibo messages: "These years have been hard, it is our pride to be able to persist until now, and we must be happy and happy in the future!" "I hope I can continue to refuel, China welcomes you!"
Ishikawa Yoshijun, who "fights fiercely" on the court, is a cute girl who loves to laugh off the court, and has always been regarded as the "facade bearer" of the Japanese table tennis industry.
In 2019, Yoshinori Ishikawa, along with swimmer Rihanako Ikee and gymnast Ari Hatoyama, became the second most wanted female athlete in the minds of Japanese youth, with the first place being the women's figure skater Masayoshi Asada and golfer HyugaKo Shino.
In solidarity with the Japanese Olympic delegation, Japanese sports brand ASICS built a giant sculpture "Big Yoshijun" in front of the Tokyo headquarters building, which shows its popularity in Japan.
"Big Jia Chun"
In addition to being good at table tennis, she is also a "Japanese kokuku". "I especially like to listen to songs, from Showa (December 25, 1926 – January 7, 1989) to Reiwa (April 1, 2019 to present)!" When asked when she would be happy other than playing table tennis, she smiled implicitly: "The happiness brought by eating food cannot be changed and replaced by anything else!" ”
She served as a special director and guest appearance in the table tennis-themed inspirational love movie "Love Boomerang" starring Japanese actress Yui Niigaki. Ishikawa recalled: "On the shooting scene, I didn't know anything and was in a hurry. In a way, it's as stressful as going to the Olympics. ”
Yoshinori Ishikawa (right) and Yui Niigaki (left) starring in "Love Boomerang"
As an experienced athlete, she does not feel proud of her experience and understands the importance of "progress". In the face of pressure, she did not choose to retire from success, but personally wrote and rewritten her destiny. She once said: "I don't want to hear things like, 'You still give up your place to young people.'" ”
In May this year, the film studio of Japan's high-end skincare brand sk-ii created six "vs" animated series of short films, containing the real experiences of six groups of female athletes, from different perspectives to explore the hardships that women endure in society - Internet violence, pressure, face theory, rules, limits, machine-like perfection.
Ishikawa Yoshijun starred in the "stress" theme. In the film, the wind that symbolizes the pressure hits ishikawa's elevator, broken by countless doubts and self-doubts, and she resolutely bids farewell to the applause and praise at the age of 7 and the lights and garlands at the age of 14. She ran forward, finally beating herself and stepping out of her inner barrier.
Animated image of Yoshinori Ishikawa in "vs Pressure"
In the film, there is always a voiceover that constantly presses Ishikawa to ask, "Will you still fight?" "Where else can you go?" "Will you give up?" Ishikawa in the anime replies firmly, "I will never give up." ”
In an interview with the sports magazine Smile Sport, she described herself in one sentence: "I don't accept to lose, and when I encounter table tennis, I will be more energetic." The "Kingdom of Table Tennis" website also commented: "Ishikawa is very polite, but at the same time has a strong sense of self." ”
Halfway through the Tokyo Olympic Games, although she stopped in the table tennis women's singles quarterfinals, she will still appear at the Tokyo Gymnasium on August 1 with her teammates Ito Ando Miyu to represent the Japanese team in the women's table tennis team competition, and look forward to Ishikawa's performance!
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