Japan Table Tennis National Championships fierce battle is in full swing, Beijing time on January 26, mixed doubles list of the top four has been released, its Chinese table tennis rival Zhang Benzhihe and his 13-year-old sister Zhang Benmeihe have advanced to the semifinals, but the two are not partners; and the World Table Tennis Mixed Doubles Champion Yoshimura Makoto, although not cooperating with his old partner Ishikawa Yoshizumi, has now also won the final four seats.
In the case that the Olympic champion and national champion combination - Mizutani Hayabusa / Ito Mishimasa, Morien Masataka / Ito Mishimasa do not participate, the ownership of the mixed doubles champion of this year's Championships may have a certain impact on the next stage of Japanese table tennis Olympic preparations, which is worth paying attention to!
In the history of the Japanese Table Tennis Championships, Ito's achievements are particularly outstanding: in 2018, 2019 and 2020, she won the mixed doubles and women's doubles championships for three consecutive years, and her strength is very strong. However, due to the impact of the epidemic, the 2021 National Championships only held two events in men's and women's singles, so her doubles legend could not continue.
At the same time, after Ito and Hayabusa Mizutani won the mixed doubles championship at the Tokyo Olympic Games, they had no intention of playing in mixed doubles, so they abandoned the project at last year's World Table Tennis Championships and this year's National Championships, which also facilitated the rise of Zhang Benzhi and /Hayata Hina.
At the Houston World Table Tennis Championships at the end of 2021, Zhang Benzhi and /Hina Hayata reached the final to win the silver medal, but this year's national championships they played bumps and bumps, the first game was a 3-2 narrow win, and then 3-1 was not easy, completely showing the style of the world runner-up combination.
According to the arrangement, the semi-final opponents of Zhang Benzhi and / Hayata Hina will be Yukiya Utada / Miyu Kihara - the former defeated Zhang Benzhihe to win the men's singles championship, and the latter once ranked first in the women's doubles world (partner Nagasaki Miyu), these two athletes are also considered to be outstanding in Japan, so Zhang Benzhi and / Hayata Hina face a severe test.
In the other half, world champion Makoto Yoshimura also performed strongly, advancing with Suzuki Riga. Prior to this, Makoto Yoshimura's name had always been tied to Ishikawa Yoshinori, because they had worked together to win the mixed doubles championship at the 2017 World Table Tennis Championships and the mixed doubles runner-up at the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships, but unfortunately did not have the opportunity to participate in the Tokyo Olympic Games.
In 2021, Yoshimura Maharu was first infected with the new crown virus, and then fractured and injured, basically fading out of the core circle of the Japanese national team, so this time it is not easy to reach the mixed doubles semifinals without working with Ishikawa Yoshijun, which shows that his doubles ability is still very good.
As for Makoto Yoshimura/Li Jia Suzuki, the opponent is Kenta Tian/Mikazu Akimoto – yes, the latter is The younger sister of Tomokazu Akira Yoshimura, born in 2008 and currently under the age of 14. But even so, this little girl still broke into the semi-final of the mixed doubles, and it seems that the strength of the two brothers and sisters of the Zhang Ben family is indeed very outstanding!
So can Tomokazu Zhang and Hina Hayata win the gold medal in one stop? Can Makoto Yoshimura play at the level of matching Yoshinori Ishikawa? Can Hiromi Anderson become a Japanese national champion at the age of 13? How will Yukiya Utada and Miyo Kihara behave? The answer will soon be revealed, so let's wait and see!