At last year's Tokyo Olympics, the Japanese table tennis community was angry, because they won an Olympic gold medal in mixed doubles from the world hegemon China table tennis at the Olympic Games held on their home soil. It is this gold medal that gives the Japanese table tennis team more confidence to challenge the supremacy of national table tennis. However, dreams are beautiful, but reality can be cruel. A national table tennis player who has been retired for many years, the nearly 40-year-old veteran is almost a hegemonic presence when he participates in the Japanese league. The Japanese national champion is in front of him, just like an amateur player. Still, the Japanese media seems to be confident, and the source of their confidence is a table tennis player who is only 14 years old. The Japanese media even claimed that the young player would be the next monster in the men's table tennis world.
When it comes to Hao Shuai, I believe that the national table tennis fans are still very impressed with him. He was once the main force of national table tennis, and wang Hao, a famous national table tennis player, was a teammate of the same period. However, he is not a core figure in national table tennis. Today's Hao Shuai is already a veteran of nearly 40 years old, but he did not choose to retire, but chose to go to the Japanese league to play. He officially joined the Japanese League last summer, but he didn't play in the Japanese League until last month. However, the veteran of the national table tennis team almost opened the invincible mode as soon as he made a shot in the Japanese league. Currently, he has made 10 appearances in the Japanese league, with a record of 9 wins and 1 loss.
In a recent Focus Battle of the Japanese League, Hao Shuai played the style of the main force of national table tennis that year. At that time, his opponent was Japan's famous Kawazuki, who was not only Japan's national champion last year, but also the MVP of the first half of the Japanese table tennis league. The match was considered a close match before the match, but the process was a big surprise. The Japanese national champion faced Hao Shuai and behaved like an amateur. Swept by Hao Shuai in three straight sets, and down three sets, Chuan Ruiji only scored 13 points. It can be seen that compared with national table tennis, especially in men's table tennis, there is indeed a big gap between the level of Japanese table tennis and national table tennis.
Since the retirement of veteran Mizutani Hayabusa, there seems to be no men's singles player except for Zhang Benzhihe and Niwa Takashi. However, even these two men's singles players have performed very average in several consecutive World Series. Their ceiling is actually like this, and there can be no big breakthrough. However, the Japanese media is not particularly concerned about this, because in their view, there has been a talented male table tennis player in Japan who can challenge the national table tennis in the future.
At the U15 Table Tennis World Youth Championships held last month, 14-year-old Japanese teenager Akira Matsushima performed very well, winning three gold medals in men's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles, thus entering the public eye. This player comes from a table tennis family, his parents were previously table tennis players, and he is also a table tennis coach. His younger brother and sister are also currently practicing table tennis and are strong enough to be known as the Three Brothers and Sisters of Matsushima. In the 6th grade, Matsushima won the National Junior Championship, and in 2020, he officially signed for Tokyo Kinoshita in the T League and became a professional player.
However, this player is still only 1.55 meters tall, although the height is not outstanding, but it is still good in terms of strength. He is also known as Zhang Ben II in Japan, and is a key training object for Japanese men's table tennis. For Matsushima Huitai, the Japanese media is very high expectations, The Japanese professional sports media SPORTIVA listed Matsushima Huikong as the most noteworthy figure in 2022, and commented: "Only 14-year-old Matsushima Huikong, super pulling ability, he will be the next monster in the men's table tennis world after Zhang Benzhihe." ”
In this regard, fans and friends, what do you think, do you think it is possible for Matsushima Keita to become a strong player who challenges national table tennis in the future?