Taiwanese table tennis player Chiang Hung-chieh’s (江宏傑) management yesterday asked the public to respect the privacy of the Olympian and his wife, Japanese table tennis star Ai Fukuhara, following reports that they were seeking a divorce.
“We ask the public to give them some space, so they can resolve their matters in peace,” Chiang’s management company, HIM International Music, said after the Apple Daily reported that Chiang had filed for divorce.
In the report, the paper cited anonymous sources as saying that Chiang, 32, had filed for divorce at the Kaohsiung District Court, seeking to end his four-year marriage to Fukuhara, and that they would soon begin talks over the custody of their three-year-old daughter and two-year-old son.
The newspaper also said that Chiang’s management company had confirmed that he had hired a lawyer.
HIM International Music declined to comment on the Apple Daily report.
Fukuhara issued a statement thanking Chiang for providing a platform for consultation, according to Japanese media reports, which quoted her as saying: “We want to do what’s best for the children.”
News that the celebrity couple’s marriage was on the rocks first emerged last month, when Japanese media reported that the 32-year-old Fukuhara had asked for a divorce because of Chiang’s alleged verbal abuse.
Fukuhara, who has been in Japan since January, did not deny that she had asked for a divorce, but said that a final decision would not be made until she had discussed the matter with Chiang.
Around that time, Fukuhara was photographed with an unidentified man in a car and at a hotel in Yokohama, sparking rumors that she was having an affair.
Fukuhara later said that the man was “a friend” who was keeping her company, and she denied that they had stayed in the same hotel room.
On March 20, Fukuhara’s mother, who had been living at Chiang’s home in Taiwan with her grandchildren, returned to Japan, a move that Fukuhara said was because of her mother’s “advanced age and need for care.”
A two-time Olympic medal winner, Fukuhara married Chiang in 2016, and retired from competitive table tennis in 2018.
Prior to her retirement, she was Japan’s top female table tennis player and at one point was world No. 4.
She is also famous in China and speaks fluent Mandarin, as she started playing table tennis in China at an early age.
Chiang is a member of Taiwan’s national table tennis team, and his highest world ranking was No. 47.
In the past few years, he has worked in show business and hosts a TV show, although he has not officially announced his retirement from table tennis.
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