Chinese netizens flock to support Ai Fukuhara after Olympic defeat
By Ma Danning (
People's Daily Online) 16:09, August 11, 2016
Japanese table tennis star Ai Fukuhara. File Photo.
In the flurry of records being set at the Rio Olympics, this one stands out:
never before have Chinese sports fans ever so openly adored and supported a foreign athlete as they have Japanese table tennis star Ai Fukuhara.
Sympathy, encouragement and admiration poured onto the Weibo account of the Japanese athlete on the morning of Aug. 10, after she lost the chance to win a bronze medal during the match against North Korea's Kim Song-I in a 1-4 defeat.
The defeat came just hours after her 0-4 loss against China’s Li Xiaoxia in the semi-final. The battle was closely observed by Chinese viewers, as Fukuhara has a huge Chinese fan base to whom she is known as the “Japanese Doll.”
“I don’t know why but I want to cry seeing you get defeated,” one Chinese netizen commented on Fukuhara’s Weibo, the social networking site on which the 28-year-old Japanese athlete has 590,000 followers.
“Come here and let me hug you. Don’t cry,” said another.
“I hope you win a medal four years from now at home!” another netizen commented, wishing her luck in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Japanese table tennis star Ai Fukuhara. File Photo.
“I was actually in pretty good form. But [Li] was just too strong,” Fukuhara said in fluent Mandarin with a perfect northeastern accent in an interview with CCTV after the match.
Li Wujun, a CCTV reporter who is quite close to Fukuhara, revealed on his personal Weibo page that the athlete complained about having failed against generations of powerful Chinese players. “I survived the mighty Zhang Yining (now that she retired), but now I have to face the mighty Li Xiaoxia!”
“It’s rare that she didn’t cry in public this time, but if she did I would have been heartbroken,” a Weibo user commented on the reporter’s post.
Fukuhara has been playing table tennis in China from a very young age.
In 2005 she became a contract player with China’s Liaoning provincial table tennis team, and started to partner with Wang Nan for women’s doubles. Wang, who claimed four Olympic gold medals before retiring in 2008, was already China’s number one female player at that time.
Fukuhara as a young child.
“I was so afraid I would hold her back, but she was a great sister and friend. She has cared for me so much, in every aspect of my life,” Fukuhara said of Wang in an interview. She was even a bridesmaid in Wang’s 2008 wedding.
She attended Wang’s wedding as a bridesmaid in 2008.
Years of living and working in China has fostered close friendships between Fukuhara and various members of China’s national table tennis team. Media has captured several touching scenes, such as Kong Linghui, head coach of the Chinese women's table tennis team, sharing a laugh with Fukuhara outside the competition court.
A quick look through Fukuhara’s Weibo shows frequent interactions with Chinese players, including Zhang Jike and Liu Shiwen. Chinese netizens have even called the Japanese player a “darling of the Chinese national team.”
Kong Linghui, head coach of the Chinese women's table tennis team, hands a cookie to Fukuhara outside the competition court.
Chinese table tennis players sign balls for Fukuhara.
Fukuhara posts a picture with Chinese table tennis player Liu Shiwen on her Weibo page.
