Koyama Chire Decided to Withdraw from International ContestsKoyama Chire, the former Chinese Ping-pong national team member and world champion who currently serves for Japan, decided not to take part in any international contests in the future, including the World Championships to be held in Osaka, Japan this spring.Koyama Chire, the 36-year old Ping-pong player, expressed her opinion to the Japanese Table Tennis Association and the Ikeda Bank team, which she tends to that she had decided to withdraw from international competitions in the future due to failure of her physical strength. But she will play in Japan's domestic competitions and coach young players in Japan. Last month, Koyama Chire won for the eighth time the champion of women's singles in Japan, and she was selected to play in the Osaka World Championships with Wei Qingguang, another former Chinese Ping-pong team member who serves for Japan now. However, Koyama Chire was somewhat reserved at that time and formally decided to withdraw from international competitions on January 8. Having won the world championship in 1987 as a Chinese player, Koyama Chire once retired for a few years until she became a citizen of Japan in 1992. She won the championship in the Hiroshima Asian Games in 1994, and entered top eight in the Atlanta Olympics and Sydney Olympics as a Japanese player. By PD Online staff member Huang Ying |
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