Ito Mima, a name familiar to table tennis enthusiasts, is one of the few Japanese players to have won an Olympic gold medal in table tennis. Although it was only a mixed doubles gold medal, it was the first in the history of the Olympics, making it significant. It is well-known that this gold medal has made the task of Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin in the mixed doubles event during the Paris Olympic cycle even more important, highlighting the value of this gold medal.
At the Tokyo Olympics, Ito Mima won a gold medal in the mixed doubles event but was consecutively defeated by "Little Demon King" Sun Yingsha in the women's singles and team events, causing her tournament points to drop rapidly and her world ranking to reach a historic low. Ultimately, she did not make it into Japan's national table tennis team for the Paris Olympics. Despite the Japanese national table tennis team considering giving her a P card, she refused to wait for an opportunity as a sparring partner, a move that also showed her aspirations and pursuits, after all, she is someone who has won a gold medal.
After the Paris Olympics, due to the early elimination of the mixed doubles pair of Tomokazu Harimoto and Hina Hayata, the Japanese national table tennis team began planning new mixed doubles combinations, believing that mixed doubles is their most likely project to challenge for gold. They had considered bringing Ito Mima back to mixed doubles, but she ultimately declined the invitation.
Why did she decline? In my personal opinion, Ito Mima may believe that she has stronger competitiveness in singles and more opportunities to break through. After all, she has already achieved remarkable results in singles, and she may hope to continue focusing on this to further improve her world ranking and tournament results. In contrast, although mixed doubles is an important Olympic event, it may not be the best choice for her personally.
Secondly, mixed doubles competitions require默契配合 and high coordination between players. Although Ito Mima has excellent singles skills, in mixed doubles, she needs to spend a long time with her partner to develop and train to ensure effective cooperation in the competition. Considering the time cost and training pressure, Ito Mima may think that this will have an adverse effect on her singles preparation.
Furthermore, when Ito Mima's women's singles world ranking was at its highest, she was ranked 2nd, but now she has dropped to 10th, behind Hina Hayata, Miyuu Kihara, and Miu Hirano, and there is Miyuu Kihara closely following her, with only 437 points difference, which can be said to be under great pressure. Therefore, she also revealed her decision, to focus more on singles matches and improve her world ranking. In her view, the value of singles is always higher than mixed doubles, and if she cannot make changes in the women's singles event, she will almost certainly not be able to secure a spot for the Los Angeles Olympics.
After rejecting the mixed doubles invitation, Ito Mima's future is even more challenging. To achieve transformation in the women's singles field, she urgently needs to make a bold attempt, not only to surpass other strong Japanese opponents and climb to a higher ranking, but also to at least solidify her position in the top two of Japanese women's singles, which can win her the precious ticket to the Los Angeles Olympics. However, given the increase in age and the severe current situation, Ito Mima's path back to the Japanese Olympic lineup seems to have become even more rugged, and the challenges she faces are unprecedented, casting a shadow over her prospects of returning to the Olympic stage.
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