Japanese superstar Mima Ito has rekindled an unlikely friendship with table tennis centenarian and former world veteran champion Edna Fletcher.

The pair first met – and played against each other – in 2007 when Mima came to England to film a programme for Japanese TV at the age of just six.

They faced each other in a match at Great Yarmouth Town Hall, watched by an audience of 100, as covered in Table Tennis News at the time (see below).

The table tennis prodigy has gone on to achieve many great things in her career, not least winning the Mixed Doubles gold medal with Jun Mizutani at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

But she has not forgotten Edna, so when she turned 100 in September, Mima sent her this lovely video message.

And after competing at WTT Star Contender London, the world No 9 journeyed to Great Yarmouth to visit Edna – once again with a Japanese TV crew for company – retracing her steps from all those years ago.

Edna, who won the WS75 gold at the World Veterans Championships in 2002 and the WD80 gold with Ursula Bihl of Germany in 2006, as well as being a three-time European champion, was delighted to meet Mima again.