In the world of sports, athletes are often famous for their talents and achievements. However, there is a young Japanese badminton player called Maya Taguchi who is making headlines not because of her prowess but because she looks so much like Hanni from NewJeans.
Maya Taguchi’s photographs went viral on theqoo. Koreans quickly picked up on her exact similarity with that of the K-pop performer leading to a viral effect later. “I came in wondering how similar they were, and they are similar lol,” was some comment among many others that said, “Wow, it’s so cute lol.” More Mogas also mentioned how Maya looked as if she had just walked out of a comic book which further stoked this fire.
Born in 2005, Maya Taguchi has already made a name for herself in the world of badminton. During her first participation at Junior Badminton World Championships Maya won a gold medal thus tagging her as one of Japan’s most talented young players. Despite this amazing achievement, Maya was not included in representing Japan in this year’s Olympics in Paris.
However, missing out on the Olympics was not a great setback for she has earned fame online. Her resemblance to Hanni fascinated fans and united the sports world with K-pop which many people never expected.
Maya’s popularity owes its origin to slavery over the internet yet such recognition has placed her under different lenses. In terms of badminton achievements or looking like a K-pop artist, Maya Taguchi is someone worth watching in future years.
