THE JAPAN NEWS

 

 
RIO DE JANEIRO — Ai Fukuhara’s tears never seemed to stop after she and her teammates won the bronze medal in their Rio Olympics finale.

Fukuhara, Kasumi Ishikawa and Mima Ito beat Singapore 3-1 on Tuesday as the women’s table tennis team clinched a podium finish for the second straight Olympics.

“These four years were the toughest period in my life. It was also the toughest Olympics,” said the 27-year-old captain, who has taken part in every Olympics since the 2004 Athens Games, as she tried to hold back the tears. She missed out on a medal in the women’s singles when she lost her bronze medal match last week.

Fukuhara appeared in the first singles match but lost after playing full five games. She then switched her focus to encouraging her teammates.
“Never lose your composure,” she said to herself.
After the 23-year-old Ishikawa won her singles match, Fukuhara entered her last match at Rio, the doubles with 15-year-old Ito.

The pair lost their first game but they soon regained their rhythm, playing at a fast pace to grab the following three games. Then Ito swept her opponent 3-0 to get the third win of the series.

“We’ve rapidly become a good team as we overcame hardships one by one,” Fukuhara said.