Retired Japanese table tennis star Ai Fukuhara's Taiwanese husband has filed for divorce, local media reported Friday.
Her husband, Chiang Hung-chieh, a Taiwanese table tennis player and television personality, sought to end the marriage at the Kaohsiung District Court, according to the Apple Daily.
The daily quoted Chiang's agent as saying his client has hired a lawyer to take care of the divorce and is asking the public to respect the couple's wishes to jointly handle the matter peacefully and privately.
"I am grateful Mr. Chiang has taken a seat to engage in talks," Fukuhara said through her management company. "We hope we will choose good paths for our children, and appreciate people keeping us in their thoughts."
The couple announced their marriage in September 2016 and held wedding ceremonies in Taiwan and Japan the following year. Fukuhara gave birth to a baby girl in October 2017 and a boy in April 2019.
Fukuhara, known affectionately as "Ai-chan" in Japan, rose to fame as a child prodigy after turning professional at age 10. A four-time Olympian, she won a team silver medal at the 2012 London Games and a bronze in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
She married Chiang after the Rio Games and announced her retirement from competition in October 2018, a year after giving birth to their first child.
The couple lived mainly in Taiwan until January when Fukuhara returned to Japan, leaving her mother and two children behind. Local media spotted Chiang seeing off Fukuhara's mother in a wheelchair at Taipei Songshan Airport last month.
Magazine articles detailing their marital issues began to appear earlier this year, with paparazzi spotting Fukuhara in the company of another man who is reportedly Japanese and married.
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