Popular teenager Ai Fukuhara and veteran Koji Matsushita have been named to the Japanese table tennis squads for this year's world team championships, the Japan Table Tennis Association said Wednesday.
Fukuhara, who finished third in a World Cup meet in December, will team up with newly crowned national champion Saki Kanazawa, Haruna Fukuoka, Ai Fujinuma and Sayaka Hirano at the championships beginning on April 24 in Bremen, Germany.
Fukuhara, Fujinuma and Hirano were members of the Japanese women's team that won the bronze medal at the 2004 world championships held in Doha, Qatar.
On the men's team, Matsushima will make his ninth appearance in the world championships at age 38. He will be joined by national champion Kaii Yoshida and high school students Jun Mizutani, Taku Takakiwa and Seiya Kishikawa.