2024 Great Scenes in Sports – All of Japan in Tears! Hina Hayata, 3rd place match of Women’s Singles Table Tennis at the Paris Olympics

The bronze medal was won after administering anesthesia.

Just before the third-place match, Hina Hayata (24) was in no condition to swing a racket. She injured her left forearm in the singles quarterfinals. In the semifinals, she was defeated 0-4 by her archrival, China’s Ying Zhao Sun (24). The pain in her dominant arm was extraordinary. He was unable to bathe by himself, let alone dry his hair. On the fateful day, Hayata continued treatment until 4:00 a.m., and then, with wounds all over her body, she faced the third-place match against the Korean ace Shin Yubin (20). Hiroko Fujii, a former Japanese table tennis player who commentated at the Paris Olympics, said, “Hayata was in a state of shock before the fifth minute of the match.

Hayata had injected anesthesia into the affected area five minutes before the match. Normally, she would have wanted to practice in order to understand the effects of the anesthesia and the range of motion of her arm beforehand. However, she did not have that luxury at that time.

The injured forearm had a particularly large impact on her backhand. When you hit a backhand technique, you have to twist your wrist. If there is pain in the forearm, the wrist cannot be twisted satisfactorily, resulting in a ball that lacks power and rotation. However, in the second half of the second game, the anesthesia seemed to have taken effect, and Hayata’s original shots began to come back. This is almost a miracle. Hayata’s mental strength and the miracle that took place during the match gave birth to the bronze medal that she had longed for.

The pride of the queen, who never gave up even after suffering a life-threatening injury, gave courage and inspiration to all of Japan.

(From the January 3, 10, and 17, 2025 issue of FRIDAY)