Mima Ito is steadily improving her chances of winning a gold medal in table tennis at the Tokyo Games, evidenced by her climb up the world rankings.
Ito was No. 2 in singles in the International Table Tennis Federation's latest world rankings, and was also selected for the Women's Dream Team of the 21st century, in internet voting.
She seems to be brimming in ever-growing in confidence, something backed up by her results.
The young talent is the first Japanese national to be ranked second in singles, the country's highest spot in the sport among men and women under the current format.
She earned a spot on the Dream Team with the second-highest percentage of the votes, slowing down a dominant China, referred to as the table tennis kingdom.
Since 2018, Ito has taken on Chinese players in 48 international singles matchups, and her record is dead even in those matches.
Two years ago, even though she beat a number of Chinese players, "I was just on a roll," she said. Last year, however, she started feeling "the victories were earned."
"I want to play a lot of games against Chinese players," said Ito, showing her desire to go head-to-head against top competition this year.
In the semifinals of the Qatar Open in March, Ito eased to a 4-0 victory against China's Ding Ning, the gold medalist at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
She grabbed the lead with an array of serves and returns, and smashed winners when she had the opportunity. She dominated in the third game, winning at love.
"Everything I tried, it seemed like I it was going to work," she recalled.
Ito, with her diminutive 152-centimeter frame, crowds the table and uses a high-tempo attack. In the past, her opponents ran her from side to side, eventually backing her off table and taking advantage. That would often cause a breakdown in Ito's game.
She was aware of this weaknesses and significantly improved her footwork, and also figured out how to handle situations when her opponent has her rattled.
"Her ability to return various shots has increased dramatically, and now she is tough even when driven back off the table," said Yoshihito Miyazaki, the Japan Table Tennis Association development chief. "Her footwork is now in sync with the way she visualizes things in her mind."
Ito's growth is clearly evidenced by the way her opponents have adjusted to her.
According to Mika Baba, the coach of the women's national team, there was a rare tense atmosphere surrounding the Chinese squad last year at a venue. China took steps such as bringing in male training partners for its players and had increased its staff members.
"Because Ito has beaten [top Chinese players], it's easy to see they're also making real efforts to step things up," Baba said.
She is 19 years old and has a lot of growth potential, and Ito is sure to improve her game in the year running up to the Olympics.
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