Bruna Takahashi
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Brazil
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Brazil
Bruna Takahashi is a Brazilian table tennis player born to a Japanese father and a Brazilian mother. She is the first Latin American to win the World Cadet Challenge, a feat she managed in Egypt when she was about 15 years old. She seems to have inspired her sister to join the sport, with Giulia Takahashi also making waves in the ping pong world. So what more is there to know about the Brazilian talisman? Keep reading to find out.
Quick Facts
Biography
Bruna Takahashi is a young Brazilian ping pong player who was first introduced to the sport by her Japanese father. He first took her to the Japanese ping pong club – Acrepa – to ensure she didn't live a sedentary lifestyle like most kids her age. However, she took to the sport and started to play there for fun. By 2008 she was having two ping pong classes a week, on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
There, Monica Doti, an Olympic table tennis participant in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics and club coach, noticed and took an interest in Bruna. Monica then invited her to take on more classes in 2011 at the São Caetano do Sul ping pong club. Here she had a chance to see top-rated players in action, like Hugo Calderano. She would go on to have daily lessons that have benefited her career to date.
She played in her first international tournament in 2012 at the ITTF Brazil Junior and Cadet Open. She then continued to play in tournaments until 2015, when she won the ITTF World Cadet Challenge in Egypt, a moment she views as a turning point in her career.
The following year she was able to participate in the Rio Olympics in the team event and would also participate in the 2020 Olympics in the women's singles and women's team events. While she hasn't taken home an Olympic medal yet, she has plenty of gold, silver, and bronze medals to her name.
Also, being that young means she may get another chance to represent her country at the next Olympics and possibly take home a medal.
Career
Ever since her debut at the 2012 ITTF Brazil Junior and Cadet Open, Bruna Takahashi's ping pong career has been quite eventful and full of successes as well as failures. For instance, in 2013, she played in the Latin American Junior and Cadet Championships in the team and mixed doubles events, where she took gold in both.
In 2015 she won two golds at the World Cadet Challenge in the Cadet girls' team and cadet girls' singles and has continued her medal-winning streak since then. In 2017 she moved to Denmark, Europe, for school, won the ITTF Challenge series and was a finalist in several adult competitions.
She also lost in the first round of the 2017 World Table Tennis Competition to Korean Yoo Eunchong. Bruna Takahashi's table tennis career again took another turn the following year when she signed for Portugal outfit Sporting Lisbon.
More recently, she continued her trend of winning two golds at a tournament by taking home the team and mixed doubles golds at the 2021 Pan America games.
Playing Style
Bruna Takahashi is right-handed, with her games often fast-paced and offensive, with her favoring the backhand over the forehand. This is also reflected in her practices since she believes in the versatility of the backhand.
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Achievements
As for Bruna Takahashi's achievements, they include several gold, silver, and bronze medals that have accrued since her first tournament game in 2012. Most have come from the Pan American Championships, as listed below.
Pan American Championships
- Cartegana de Indias Colombia 2017 – Team gold
- Cartegana de Indias Colombia 2017 – Mixed doubles gold
- Cartegana de Indias Colombia 2017 – Singles bronze
- Cartegana de Indias Colombia 2017 – Doubles bronze
- Santiago 2018 – Team gold
- Santiago 2018 – Singles bronze
- Asunción 2019 – Team silver
- Asunción 2019 – Singles silver
- Lima 2021 – Team gold
- Lima 2021 – Mixed doubles gold
- Lima 2021 – Singles silver
Olympic Games
She didn't get to take any medals in her two stints at the Olympics. In 2016 when she only participated in the team event, the Brazil national team came in ninth. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the team again came in ninth while she came in 33rd in the women's singles.
Her other accolades include two silvers and two bronze at the Pan-American Games, three gold and three bronze at the Latin American Championships, two gold at the World Cadet Challenge, and three gold at the Latin American Youth Championships.
Net Worth and Income
While the specifics of Bruna Takahashi's net worth and income are unknown, it's estimated that she could be worth anywhere from $1 million to $5 million, given her illustrious ping-pong career.
Personal Life
Despite being big on social media, there isn't much information about Bruna Takahashi's parents and family other than the fact that her father is Japanese while her mother is Brazilian. She also gets her surname from her father's grandparents.
Aside from that, she has a younger sister, Giulia Takahashi, who also plays ping pong professionally.
Social Media
Unlike her Asian counterparts, who are barely seen on social media, Bruna has profiles on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok. As such, you should be able to find them by entering her name on the Google search bar alongside the specific social media site.
Videos
Final Thoughts
Overall, Bruna Takahashi flies her Brazilian flag high whenever she plays ping pong. Also, given how some players get better with age, we may yet see the best of Bruna in the remaining years of her career.