Maharu Yoshimura

Maharu Yoshimura (吉村 真晴) is a Japanese table tennis player.

1993–2010: Early life and background
Yoshimura was born in Ibaraki Prefecture to a Filipina mother and a Japanese father. He has two younger brothers, namely Kazuhiro and Tomohisa, who are also table tennis players. His first name is a Japanese transliteration of the Tagalog word "Mahal", meaning "beloved".

2011–present
In 2011, while in junior high school, he competed in the February Table Tennis Tournament Japan where he advanced to the top 12. He defeated Kazuhiro Zhang in the semi-finals but lost to Jun Mizutani in the final game. His achievements include the Asian Championships (New Delhi, India; the first victory of a Japanese player in the men's singles ) and the All Japan Table Tennis Championships. At the 2015 World Table Tennis Championships, Yoshimura won a silver medal in the mixed doubles event with Kasumi Ishikawa. In 2016, he competed in the 2016 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal in the men's team event with Jun Mizutani and Koki Niwa. At the 2017 World Table Tennis Championships, Yoshimura won a gold medal in the mixed doubles event with Kasumi Ishikawa.

Career records

 * Japan Top 12 Table Tennis Tournament (2011)
 * Men's singles runner-up
 * World Junior Table Tennis Championships (2011)
 * 3rd in men's singles
 * 3rd in men's doubles
 * Interscholastic athletic competition (2011)
 * Men's doubles winner
 * 3rd in men's singles table tennis
 * Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships (2011)
 * Men's doubles runner up
 * Won men's singles
 * All Japan Table Tennis Championships (2012)
 * Won the men's singles
 * Japan Open (2015)
 * Men's singles runner-up

In popular culture
Maharu Yoshimura had a minor role in the 2017 film Mixed Doubles.

In a 2016 segment of the Japanese variety show Ningen Kansatsu Variety Monitoring (ニンゲン観察バラエティ モニタリング), Yoshimura and Koki Niwa disguised themselves as two old men and proceeded to shock normal folks in table tennis.