Miu Hirano
Japan
Japan
Miu Hirano is a Japanese table tennis player in her early twenties who seems to have etched her name among Japan’s greats at an early age. She has a series of firsts in the sport, including being the youngest-ever winner of the Women’s World Cup in 2016. She has also fostered an amazing playing relationship with Japan’s Mimo Ito, another youngster who’s been making waves in the table tennis world and with whom Miu has combined with to take home several doubles records. Here’s a profile of Miu and everything you’d like to know about her, including her age, career highlights, equipment, world ranking, and more.
Quick Facts
Biography
Miu Hirano is a Japanese native born in Numazu, one of the cities in central Japan known for its spring cherry blossoms and views of Mount Fuji, the country’s highest mountain. While there’s almost zero information on why and how she got into ping pong, we know that she has been playing since she was four.
Her doubles partner Mimo Ito happened to mention that after the two made history by winning the ITTF World Tour Germany in 2014. By then, the two were only thirteen years old and would go on to clinch other senior doubles titles while they were still in their teens.
Another record Miu is responsible for breaking this time by herself was becoming the youngest Women’s World Cup winner in 2016. The same year, she got into her country’s Olympic table tennis squad but ended up an unused reserve.
However, she participated in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, coming away with a medal in one of the ping pong events. There should be much more we see from her before she gets to retirement age.
Career
Miu Hirano’s table tennis playing career officially started at the 2014 ITTF World Tour German Open when she clinched the doubles title with her friend Mimo Ito. By all accounts, the two were prodigies in the sport and would go on to win the ITTF World Tour Spanish Open and the Bangkok ITTF World Tour Grand finals in the same year.
However, Hirano also participated as part of the Japanese team at the 2014 Asian Games, which lost to China in a heated final. She again doubled up with Mimo Ito for another doubles title before becoming the youngest-ever Women’s World Cup winner in Philadelphia in 2016. This was her second singles title of the year.
2017 saw her win the All-Japan Championships and then go on to beat the then-world number one, Ding Ning, at the Asian Table Tennis Championships. Ding Ning has since retired with three Olympic gold medals and one silver.
As for Miu, she participated in the delayed 2020 Olympics as part of Japan’s women’s team, which took home the silver after failing to beat China.
Playing Style
Miu Hirano is a right-handed player who uses the shakehand grip and whose playing style consists of rapid attacks with aggressive and hard counters. She especially likes to use a counter drive when her opponents attack. This playstyle earned her the nickname hurricane in 2017 when she beat former Olympic gold medalist Ding Ning at the Asian Table Tennis Championships.
Achievements
Here’s a list of Miu Hirano’s achievements in the Olympics, World Championships, and Asian Championships.
Olympics
- 2020 Tokyo Olympics – Team Silver
World Championships
- 2017 Dusseldorf World Championship – Singles bronze
- 2018 Halmstad World Championship – Team Silver
World Cup
- 2016 Philadelphia World Cup – Singles Gold
Asian Championships
- 2015 Pattaya Asian Championship – Doubles silver
- 2015 Pattaya Asian Championship – Team silver
- 2017 Wuxi Asian Championship – Singles gold
- 2017 Wuxi Asian Championship – Team silver
- 2019 Yogyakarta Asian Championship – Team silver
- 2019 Yogyakarta Asian Championship – Doubles bronze
Net Worth and Income
Miu Hirano’s current net worth and income are unknown, although it should be fairly substantial given her relative table tennis success.
Personal Life
Hirano also prefers to keep her personal life private, as do most Asian table tennis players.
Social Media
As for social media, the table tennis superstar has profiles both on Instagram and Twitter. Her Instagram handle is @miu_hirano, while her Twitter isn’t very active.
Miu Hirano Equipment
Videos
Final Thoughts
Overall, Miu Hirano is an amazing and talented table tennis player, and despite her recent dip in form that has seen her drop in the world rankings, she may yet bounce back.