In 2021, with the End of the World Cup Finals in Singapore, all the international competitions in table tennis came to an end, and in the men's singles final of the final battle, Fan Zhendong resisted Japan's Zhang Benzhihe frantically counterattacked and won the championship with a 4-1 victory over his opponent. Zhang Benzhihe, who returned to Japan, did not receive much praise, the media exposed that he was questioned by the coach why he could not defeat Fan Zhendong to win the championship, and Zhang Benzhihe revealed that he would only be recognized as a Japanese if he won the gold medal, otherwise there would still be Japanese people saying that he was Chinese.
Zhang Benzhihe is 18 years old this year, born in a family with a strong table tennis atmosphere, father Zhang Yu and mother Zhang Ling are former chinese players of Chinese table tennis, under the influence of their parents, Zhang Benzhihe was born in Japan from an early age, and also began his career in table tennis, he also has a younger sister Zhang Benmeihe, who is already the main force of the Japanese youth team, and also won the recent World Youth Championships.
Zhang Benzhihe has soared to the leading role of the Japanese men's table tennis team at a rocket speed since the beginning of the Tokyo Olympic cycle, and in 2017, zhang Benzhihe, who was only 14 years old, reached the quarterfinals in the men's singles competition of the World Table Tennis Championships, and although he lost to Xu Xin, he still created the youngest history of the world championships men's singles quarterfinals. In the next two World Table Tennis Championships, although Zhang Benzhihe did not play steadily in the men's singles field, he still won a silver medal in the mixed doubles at the just-concluded World Table Tennis Championships, which was also Zhang Benzhihe's first single medal in the World Table Tennis Championships.
However, the World Cup has always been Zhang Benzhihe's most skilled game, the 2019 World Cup Zhang Benzhihe all the way to the men's singles final, but was defeated by Fan Zhendong to be the runner-up, the 2020 World Cup once again reached the final four, this year's World Cup finals are still the runner-up. In addition, Zhang Benzhihe also won the men's singles championship in the 2018 year-end finals. Zhang Benzhihe, who is currently ranked No. 5 in the world, is still Japan's number one men's singles player and is basically one of the main opponents of national table tennis in the next 10 years.
Zhang Benzhihe was not happy in Japan, although he won the runner-up in the recent World Cup finals, it was already a good result, but the media still exposed the head coach accusing Zhang Benzhihe of why he could not defeat Fan Zhendong to win the championship! It seems to be an unfinished task, after all, Fan Zhendong's recent state has exploded, and he has won two men's singles championships back-to-back in the World Championships and World Cup finals, and Zhang Benzhihe still looks a little tender in the game. After the defeat, Zhang Benzhihe also complained on the Internet, and the Japanese domestic view of him was that he was only recognized as Japanese when he won the gold medal, and other results said that he was Chinese. Zhang Benzhihe was indeed born in Japan.
Regardless of whether Zhang Benzhihe can cross the national table tennis barrier in the future and win the championship of the competition, the fact is that Zhang Benzhihe is ranked highest in Japan, the comprehensive singles strength is also the strongest, and representing the Japanese team is also his only way out, if placed in China, maybe he can't even enter the door of the national team.