Former Japanese table tennis icon Kasumi Ishikawa, 33, has embraced a relaxed post-retirement life, with fans closely following her daily life and long-stated 2028 marriage plan.
Kasumi Ishikawa, the 33-year-old former No. 1 player in Japanese table tennis, was recently photographed with a few scattered pimples on her face, causing many longtime fans who know her well to feel a pang of concern.
It’s hard for anyone to reconcile these current details with the image of that stoic athlete from years past—the one whose fingertips remained perfectly still as she gripped her racket and who showed not a hint of panic even when a bead of sweat trickled down her temple.For the entire three months since her retirement, she has been eating grilled meat for five full days almost every week. The strict daily routines and dietary discipline ingrained in her bones from over a decade as a professional athlete were cast aside the very day she shed the burdens of competition.
This sense of relaxation became the first sign of a new direction in her life after retirement. Free from the high-pressure world of professional competition, her daily life took on a completely different rhythm.
Last year, she participated in the recording of the live variety show *Poka Poka* for the first time. She was so nervous in front of the camera that the sweat from her palms soaked through the microphone cover. When the host asked about her plans for marriage and romance, she bluntly stated her intention to get married by 2028 and specifically added that her top criterion for a partner was a love of sports.After this segment aired, it immediately sparked widespread discussion on Japanese social media. Middle-aged and elderly fans who had followed her for years went out of their way to visit her social media accounts to leave comments, repeatedly urging her to be careful in choosing her partners and not to be deceived by people with ulterior motives.The young woman, who is usually calm and composed on the field, revealed nothing but the candid hopes for love typical of any ordinary girl.
In March
2025, a work photo of Kasumi Ishikawa posing alongside a gymnastics champion went viral online. Within just half an hour, the internet was flooded with all kinds of wedding wishes. It wasn’t
until a staff member stepped forward to clarify that the two were merely collaborating on a professional project that this much-talked-about misunderstanding finally came to an end.
The name Kasumi Ishikawa is all too familiar to longtime table tennis fans in China. She was once one of the Chinese national team’s longest-standing rivals. From her teens onward, she shouldered the responsibility of leading the Japanese table tennis team, and remained the focus of fans’ attention until her retirement from the sport.and even the slightest hint of news regarding her daily life or romantic status sparks widespread discussion.
To date, no official information has ever been released regarding her marital status. Long-time fans who have followed her for over a decade, along with millions of ordinary netizens, are quietly waiting for concrete news about what her life is like now—the once-calm and dazzling young woman who graced the field all those years ago.
