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Maharu Yoshimura

Maharu Yoshimura
Personal information
NationalityJapanese
Born (1993-08-03) 3 August 1993 (age 31)
Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan
Height1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight61 kg (134 lb)
Table tennis career
Playing styleright-handed, shakehand grip
Equipment(s)Butterfly Custon (ZL Carbon), Butterfly Tenergy 05 (BH, FH)
Highest ranking15 (May 2016)
Current ranking105 (May 2023)

Maharu Yoshimura (吉村 真晴, Yoshimura Maharu, born 3 August 1993) is a Japanese table tennis player.[1]

Life and career

1993–2010: Early life and background

Yoshimura was born in Ibaraki Prefecture to a Filipina mother and a Japanese father. He has two younger brothers, namely Kazuhiro and Tomohisa, who are also table tennis players. His first name is a Japanese transliteration of the Tagalog word "Mahal", meaning "beloved".[2]

2011–present

In 2011, while in junior high school, he competed in the February Table Tennis Tournament Japan where he advanced to the top 12. He defeated Kazuhiro Zhang in the semi-finals but lost to Jun Mizutani in the final game. His achievements include the Asian Championships (New Delhi, India; the first victory of a Japanese player in the men's singles[3]) and the All Japan Table Tennis Championships. At the 2015 World Table Tennis Championships, Yoshimura won a silver medal in the mixed doubles event with Kasumi Ishikawa. In 2016, he competed in the 2016 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal in the men's team event with Jun Mizutani and Koki Niwa.[4] At the 2017 World Table Tennis Championships, Yoshimura won a gold medal in the mixed doubles event with Kasumi Ishikawa.

Career records

  • Japan Top 12 Table Tennis Tournament (2011)
    • Men's singles runner-up
  • World Junior Table Tennis Championships (2011)
    • 3rd in men's singles
    • 3rd in men's doubles
  • Interscholastic athletic competition (2011)
    • Men's doubles winner
    • 3rd in men's singles table tennis
  • Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships (2011)
    • Men's doubles runner up
    • Won men's singles
  • All Japan Table Tennis Championships (2012)
    • Won the men's singles
  • Japan Open (2015)
    • Men's singles runner-up

Maharu Yoshimura had a minor role in the 2017 film Mixed Doubles.[5]

In a 2016 segment of the Japanese variety show Ningen Kansatsu Variety Monitoring (ニンゲン観察バラエティ モニタリング), Yoshimura and Koki Niwa disguised themselves as two old men and proceeded to shock normal folks in table tennis.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Maharu Yoshimura profile". Rio2016.com. Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 25 November 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  2. ^ "水谷止めた!高校生吉村が初優勝/卓球" [Mizutani stopped! High school student Yoshimura wins for the first time / Table tennis]. Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  3. ^ "Maharu Yoshimura Strikes Gold in New Delhi to Prevent Chinese Clean Sweep". ITTF. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
  4. ^ "Rio 2016 Team men Results - Table Tennis". Olympics.
  5. ^ "新垣結衣×瑛太「ミックス。」に水谷&石川ら現役卓球選手出演". Excite (in Japanese). 17 August 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  6. ^ "あの人がまさかの出演‼︎モニタリングにあのリオオリンピック銀メダリストが登場!". Naver Matome (in Japanese). 7 November 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2019.