Table Tennis T-League Women's Kinoshita Aviel Kanagawa wins first championship

In the domestic table tennis league T League, the women's playoff final was held, and Kinoshita Aviel Kanagawa defeated the Japan Life Red Elves, who have won four consecutive titles since the league's founding, 4-3 to win their long-awaited first title.

The women's final, held at Yoyogi 1nd Gymnasium in Shibuya, Tokyo, pitted Kanagawa, the first place team in the regular season, and Japan Life, the third place, faced each other.

In the doubles match of the first match, the pair of Miyu Nagasaki and Tomokazu Harimoto, Miwa, beat the pair of Hina Hayata and Natsuboshi Akae 3-1.

However, in the second singles match, Miu Hirano of the Tokyo Olympics lost in straight sets 2-1 to Hayata, who won the triple crown at this year's All Japan Championships.

In the third match, Harimoto persevered against Mima Ito of the Tokyo Olympics with a serve that moved her wrist and a powerful backhand, but Ito won the close match 2-3.

In the fourth game, Miyu Kihara, a third-year high school student who was the runner-up of the All Japan Championship, defeated her opponent, captain Mori Sakura, 3-0 to advance to the fifth and final game of the one-game match.

In the final game, Kihara and Ito faced each other, and it was a seesaw game with each other's strong serves, but in the end, Kihara scored a powerful fore to win 3-3.

As a result, Kanagawa defeated Japan Life 2-4 to win their long-awaited first championship in the league's first year of existence.

Miyu Kihara: "We won because we helped each other"

Kinoshita Aviel Kanagawa KIHARA Miyu, who contributed to the first T-League women's table tennis title, emphasized that the victory was a teamwork, saying, "We had lost to Japan for the past four years, but I think we were able to win because we discussed tactics and characteristics and helped each other."

When asked how he felt about winning the championship in the fifth and final match against ITO Mima, he reflected, "I thought I would take the plunge from the beginning because it is normal for me to lose.

Regarding his second-place finish in the selection points for the Japan national team at next year's Paris Olympics, he said, "My goal is to maintain second place or move up one more level," expressing his enthusiasm for second place or higher as a candidate for the team competition and singles national team.