Text/Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Lin Benjian Yang Chuying
While the Chinese team is soaring, the two major armies of Japan and South Korea, the biggest opponents of national table tennis, have suffered large losses at the beginning of the World Table Tennis Championships. In the first two match days, the South Korean and Japanese men's singles suffered sniper attacks one after another, and 3 people were out each.
Both japan and South Korea sent 5 men's singles players to compete this time, which is the biggest two roadblocks of the Chinese team. However, on the first day of the match, the South Korean team suffered a series of setbacks, with two famous players Jang Woo-jin and Ahn Jae-hyun losing 3-4 to Russian player Skachekov and American player Karnak.
Zhang Yuzhen, 26, became famous at a young age, won the men's singles championship at the World Junior Table Tennis Championships in 2013, and is the No. 9 seed in the men's singles of this World Table Tennis Championships, and has often met Chinese players in various competitions in recent years.
At the 2018 ITTF Korea Open, Zhang Yuzhen defeated China's Liang Jingkun 4-0 to win the men's singles championship of the Open.
However, in this match with Skachekov, Zhang Yuzhen did not play his own characteristics at all, and the whole game competed with the opponent fiercely, and the result was a cold loss.
Ahn Jae-hyun was the bronze medalist in men's singles at the last World Table Tennis Championships and met host American Kanak in the first round. Karnak formed a transnational mixed doubles combination with China's Wang Manyu this time, and also took advantage of the home field in the men's singles match, and was in good shape, and finally won 4-3.
Another young South Korean player, Hwang Min-ho, also lost 3-4 to croatian Pukar. As a result, only Two people left in the Korean men's singles, Lee Sang-so and Lim Jong-hoon.
Like the South Korean team, the Japanese men's team also suffered a "group"-style sniper attack in the first two matchdays. Following the elimination of Yuki Utada on the first matchday, on the second matchday of the World Table Tennis Championships last night and this morning, Takaki Niwa and Masataka Morien also lost unexpectedly. Yuya Uda even lost 1-11 in a single set, which was very embarrassing.
The most surprising thing was Takashi Niwa, who lost 2-4 to Austrian Haberson. After the retirement of Olympic mixed doubles champion Hayabusa Mizutani, Takashi Niwa was originally considered the main force of the Japanese men's team, but his performance was shocking.
Nowadays, the Japanese men's singles can only rely on Zhang Benzhihe and Tokami Hayabusa, the latter of which has mediocre strength and seems that only Zhang Benzhihe can be trusted. (For more news, please pay attention to Yangcheng Pie pai.ycwb.com)
Source | Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng Pie
Editor-in-charge | Su Jing