Ping-pong Misato Ito The Tokyo Olympics national team will definitely enter the first singles on November 16 at 23:46

As a result of the international tournament held by Austrian table tennis player, Makoto Ito, it was confirmed that it would be within the top two Japanese players in the world ranking in January next year, and it was confirmed that he would be a representative of the Tokyo Olympics.

The Japanese representative of the table tennis singles at the Tokyo Olympics will be selected from the top two men and women of the next year's world ranking based on the points earned at the one-year international competition.

Ito won the world tour organized by the International Table Tennis Federation, the women's singles at the Austrian Open, and won a 4 to 1 game count against Taiwanese players in the quarterfinals on the 16th, and earned points reflected in the world ranking. I stretched it.

On the other hand, Miu Hirano, who competes for the national team, lost in the first round, and Yoshizumi Ishikawa lost in the second round.

As a result, it was confirmed that even if Ito missed the rest of the tournament, it would be within the top two Japanese players in the next year's world ranking in January next year, and the Tokyo Olympics and women's singles became the representatives.

Ito will participate in the Olympics for the second time in a row, but since the last Rio de Janeiro Olympics was only for groups, it will be the first representative in singles.

The remaining one frame of women's singles continues to be a fierce battle with Hirano and Ishikawa.

The difference between the second-placed player Hirano and Ishikawa, the third-placed player, is only 65 points in terms of the point of representatives, and is determined by the results of the remaining three international tournaments until next month.

Ito who showed his head from an early stage

Misato Ito is 19 years old from Shizuoka Prefecture. The Olympics will be two consecutive tournaments, but it will be the first representative of a single.

It has a quick haste with smash as the axis, and usually smashes the ball used for a chance ball that floats high with a low ball in the rally.

In addition, he is also good at original skills to manipulate rackets freely.

He started to play table tennis at the age of 2 and has been attracting attention since his childhood, including the youngest victory ever in the women's singles of the All Japan Championship that he entered at the age of 10.

He played an active part in the international tournament early, and in the world tour, in 2014 the German Open Women's Doubles teamed with Miu Hirano of the same year in 2014, and the German Open Women's Singles in 2015 the following year, each winning the youngest ever in history. The youngest record has been changed one after another.

At the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, which participated at the age of 15, he contributed to the bronze medal of the women's group and became the youngest medalist in the Olympic table tennis.

Kotoshi Ishikawa and Hirano have competed violently over the two women's singles at the Tokyo Olympics, but in two consecutive tournaments, such as continuously defeating the top players in China on the October World Tour. I won the race and got out of the melee.

“I want to walk my way”

“I want to walk my way.”

Ms. Misato Ito said in an interview in September. One of the factors that won the contests over the Tokyo Olympics Women's Singles 2 frame and was sure to be a representative was the strength of the word.

In the Tokyo Olympics table tennis and women's singles frame, Ito, Yoshizumi Ishikawa, and Miu Hirano are in the top 10 in the world rankings, and there is an unprecedented level of competition for representatives. It was

Even in such a tough fight, Ito calmly said, “To get a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, this difficulty must be handled normally.”

In September, Ito made a big decision that was surprising.

The other players had forgotten to participate in the Asian Championship, where they wanted to get points for the national team.

The reason for this was to concentrate on practice for a month in preparation for a series of battles from October, when the fight for representatives was intensifying.

There was a risk of being reversed if the second-placed player, Hirano, who chased Ito in terms of points, won, but in response to the question “Is hesitated to see off the entry?” "

And he continued:

"I don't really like being swept around, I want to walk my own way. I take my stuff myself."

There was no hesitation in deciding to spend time on basic practice that could not be done during the game and to improve the level and leave the result in the game from October.

October World Tour Ito made full use of the results of his one-month practice and won second place in two consecutive tournaments, such as breaking the top players in China continuously with improved smash.

With a large increase in points, Hirano and Ishikawa were separated from each other and escaped from the battle.

Ito, who showed his strength to leave his will and leave results with dictated execution, was the first to make a singles representative. Attention is also paid to the course of the future path toward the next goal of “Gold medal acquisition at the Tokyo Olympics”.