SPORTS> Stars
Sobbing 8-year-old breaks Japanese record
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-15 16:08

TOKYO - Eight-year-old Miu Hirano has stolen the headlines after a tearful, record-breaking debut at the Japanese table tennis championships.

Hirano became the youngest player to appear at the event on Wednesday, beating the previous record of Ai Fukuhara, who was 10 when she first competed in 1998.

The pint-sized Hirano, who can barely see over the net at just 131 centimetres, won her first-round match before falling at the second hurdle in a flood of tears.

Japan's sports newspapers universally hailed Hirano as the "Girl Genius" on Thursday and compared her to Fukuhara after the elementary schoolgirl's battling performance in Tokyo.

"I'm upset I lost," said Hirano, who had been unwilling to leave her mother's side to play in her opening match.

"But I was really happy so many people came to watch me. I want to win an Olympic gold medal one day."

Hirano burst into tears at regular intervals during her second-round defeat but was comforted afterwards by Fukuhara, who carried Japan's flag at last year's Beijing Olympics.

Fukuhara was once the darling of the Japanese media, appearing regularly on television shows where she would throw tantrums if she lost a point to celebrities.

Hirano asked Fukuhara to partner her at doubles in the future, before telling Japanese reporters she was off for a meal of shark's fin.