The unpredictable Misei Ito is back, and the 2025 World Table Tennis Championships in Doha is aiming for the women's singles gold medal

The 2025 World Table Tennis Championships will open in Doha, Qatar on the 17th. Japan's 24-year-old Misei Ito, who won the mixed doubles gold medal, the women's team silver medal, the women's singles bronze medal and three medals at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, recently accepted a separate interview with the "Sports News" and put forward the goal of winning a "singles medal" at the World Table Tennis Championships, which he participated in for the 10th time, including the team event. The current world No. 9 athlete has re-examined his "self" after missing out on the Paris Olympics last summer and is aiming to make a leap.

Facing the 2025 World Table Tennis Championships individual competition, Ito is full of energy

Ito's eyes were full of confidence. Looking ahead to her 10th World Table Tennis Championships journey, she has her sights set high on the women's singles front, starting with her first match against world No. 145 Brugos (Puerto Rico) on the 17th. "The biggest goal is to win a gold medal, but I haven't won a medal in singles yet. I want to achieve what I've always said. I want to grab it with my own hands. ”

Misei Ito, who was once called the "Great Demon King" by the Chinese media, is aiming for feats after Miu Hirano, who won the women's singles bronze medal at the World Table Tennis Championships in 2017, and Hina Hayata, who won the women's singles bronze medal at the World Table Tennis Championships in 2023.

Returning to the origin is the key to the uplift. Ito used the ingenuity of his weapon to play and won Japan's first Olympic gold medal in the history of table tennis in the mixed doubles at the Tokyo Olympics. However, "in order to win the championship in Tokyo, I think [the general competition] is important. However, it is difficult to show yourself when you want to express yourself. Now if it goes on like this, it stops." Soon after the Tokyo Olympics, the selection for the Paris Olympics began. In addition to overseas competitions, we also had a busy schedule to continue to participate in domestic auditions, but in the end, we were one step away from making the appearance.

Ito then revisited her table tennis with a view to becoming the "world's number one sister" and began to (realize) that no one else knew how to do it, and that this was the key to victory. "The quality of the opponent's (return shot) will also deteriorate if the opponent's serve, smash, and the technique of hitting the opponent's return ball at a fast pace will also decrease, so it is also important to attack quickly. It's your style to feel the other person's atmosphere (change) and play the game." In the quarter-finals of the Women's Singles at the Macau World Cup in April, Ito defeated teammate Satsuki Oto, who had recently lost twice, 4-2. Although he lost 3-4 to the world's No. 5 national table tennis star Kuo Man in the semifinals, he won the World Cup singles bronze medal again after 5 years, laying the foundation for this World Table Tennis Championships.