日本乒乓球運動員福原愛宣佈正式退役

Japanese table tennis star Ai Fukuhara announced last Sunday that she is retiring from competition.

日本乒乓球明星福原愛於上週日正式宣佈退役。

"Recently, I've found the answers within myself that I have been searching for. From the standpoint of an athlete, I'm drawing the line here," she wrote on her blog.

她在博客上寫道：“我最近一直在找尋一個答案，現在我已找到了。作爲一名運動員，我止步於此。”

"I first gripped a racket at the age of three years and nine months, turned professional at 10 and began playing for the national team at 11," she wrote, adding that it had been a long journey.

她寫道：“我第一次握起球拍是在我3歲零9個月時。10歲時我成了職業球員，11歲就進了國家隊。”她還表示，這是一個漫長的旅程。

As the Japanese young players are making fast progress, she said she could now retire and hoped to continue to make contribution to table tennis and the sports communities.

現在日本的年輕選手進步的都很快，她稱現在自己可以退役了，並希望能繼續爲乒乓球和體育界做出貢獻。

The 29-year-old Fukuhara was regarded as a "child prodigy" in table tennis in Japan. She went to China for training at a very young age and can speak fluent Mandarin with a northeastern accent.

今年29歲的福原愛被認爲是日本乒乓球界的“神童”。她很小的時候就去中國接受訓練，能說一口流利的東北口音的普通話。

The Japanese women's table tennis team led by Fukuhara won the silver at the London Olympics in 2012 and the bronze at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

由福原愛帶領的日本女子乒乓球隊在2012年倫敦奧運會上獲得了銀牌，而在2016年裏約奧運會上獲得了銅牌。

Fukuhara married a table tennis player from Chinese Taipei in 2016, gave birth to a baby girl last year and has not competed since.

2016年，福原愛與中國臺北的一位乒乓球運動員結婚，並在去年生下一名女兒，此後就再也沒有參加過比賽。