Ai Fukuhara (福原 爱, Fukuhara Ai, born November 1, 1988 in Sendai, Miyagi) is a Japanese table tennis player, and belongs to All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd.
Fukuhara began playing at the age of 3 and became a professional at age 10. The following year, she became the youngest player ever to become a member of the Japanese national team. At age 13, in 2002, she reached the quarterfinals of the Japan table tennis championship. In the following year, she finished fifth in the world championship in Paris. In 2004, she took part in the world team championships and helped Team Japan finish third. She also speaks Mandarin fluently as she had resided in China during her early career. She attended Aomori Yamada Junior High School and graduated from Aomori Yamada High School in 2007. Both schools are located in the city of Aomori in Aomori Prefecture.
As of May 1, 2008, she was ranked #13 in the ITTF rankings (the highest ranked Japanese player). As of the same date, she is also ranked #3 of players under 21, a position she has held since December 2006.
She was chosen as the national flag bearer for Japan at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
Popularity
Her first name, Ai, means "love" and she is often referred to as "Ai-chan" (爱ちゃん) in Japan. Her youth and talent has made her a popular sports star in Japan. She carried the Olympic flame when it traveled to Tokyo in 2004. She carried the torch once again for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, and was the flag bearer for the Japanese national team at the Opening Ceremonies.
Ai Fukuhara has appeared in two Japanese table tennis video games, including Fukuhara Ai No Takkyū Icchokusen (Ai Fukuhara's Table Tennis), released on June 24, 2004 and Ikuze! Onsen Takkyū!! (Do it! Hot Spring Table Tennis!!), released December 21, 2001, both for the PlayStation 2.[citation needed]
Beginning playing table tennis in China since a very young age, Fukuhara can speak fluent Mandarin Chinese with a Northeastern accent. Therefore she has higher popularity in China than most other table tennis players outside China. She wrote down "中日友好" (meaning "Sino-Japanese friendship" in both Chinese and Japanese) when meeting Wang Yi, then Chinese ambassador to Japan, in the highlight of the 2005 anti-Japanese demonstrations and was widely reported by Chinese media.
In September 2005, Fukuhara guest-starred alongside Chinese actor Jackie Chan during the opening of a photograph exhibition, in Roppongi Hills, to celebrate 60 years of peaceful coexistence between China and Japan. In 2007, she was accepted to Waseda University, which she now attends.
