Kazuko Yamaizumi

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Kazuko Yamaizumi ( Japanese 山泉 和 子 , Yamaizumi Kazuko ; married Kazuko Itō ( 伊藤 和 子 , Itō Kazuko ); born January 17, 1935 ) is a Japanese table tennis player . In the late 1950s and early 1960s she was one of the most successful table tennis players and won a total of five world championship titles.

National successes

Kazuko Yamaizumi was Japanese champion several times, around 1957 and 1958 and 1961 in singles, doubles and mixed.

International success

From 1996 to 1971 Yamaizumi took part in six world championships . In 1959 , 1961 and 1963 she was team world champion with the Japanese women's team. She also won the title in doubles with Taeko Namba in 1959 and in mixed with Kōji Kimura in 1963 . In 1963 she won bronze in doubles with Noriko Yamanaka .

At the Asian Championships in 1960 she won gold in singles, doubles (with Kimiyo Matsuzaki ) and with the team, in mixed with Teruo Murakami she reached the final. In 1963 she defended the title with the Japanese team and still won the mixed competition with Manji Fukushima.

In the ITTF world rankings Kazuko Yamaizumi was ranked fourth in 1961.

She won thirteen titles at senior world championships in each age group: singles in 1982, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1996, 2002 and doubles in 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1996, 2004.

In 2010 she was inducted into the ITTF Hall of Fame .

Private

Kazuko Yamaizumi was a student. She married around 1960 and was then called Kazuko Itō.

Results from the ITTF database

Association event year place country singles Double Mixed team
JPN  Asian Championship TTFA  1963  Manila  PHI       gold  1
JPN  Asian Championship TTFA  1960  Bombay  IND   gold  gold  silver  1
JPN  Asian Games  1962  Jakarta  INA   silver  3 silver  1
JPN  Asian Games  1958  Tokyo  JPN   silver  gold  silver  1
JPN  World Championship  1971  Nagoya  JPN   last 32  last 16  last 32   
JPN  World Championship  1969  Munich  FRG   last 16  last 16  Quarter finals   
JPN  World Championship  1963  Prague  TCH   last 16  Semifinals  gold  1
JPN  World Championship  1961  Beijing  CHN   last 32  Quarter finals  last 16  1
JPN  World Championship  1959  Dortmund  FRG   last 32  gold  last 16  1
JPN  World Championship  1956  Tokyo  JPN   last 32  last 16  last 16   

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tim Boggan in History of US Table Tennis Vol III (accessed November 29, 2013)
  2. ↑ DTS magazine , 1961/7 p. 1
  3. ↑ Historical world rankings (accessed on August 4, 2011; PDF; 148 kB)
  4. ↑ Hall of Fame (accessed August 4, 2011; PDF; 407 kB)
  5. ↑ DTS magazine , 1959/6 p. 2
  6. ↑ http://teaohou.natlib.govt.nz/journals/teaohou/issue/Mao36TeA/c35.html (accessed on August 4, 2011) - at the Asian Table Tennis Championships in 1960 it was still called Yamaizumi, according to the DTS magazine , 1961/5 back
  7. ↑ Kazuko Yamaizumi results from the ITTF database on ittf.com (accessed September 9, 2011)
personal data
SURNAME Yamaizumi, Kazuko
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 山泉 和 子 (Japanese); Itō, Kazuko; 伊藤 和 子 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese table tennis player
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1935