On January 27, Beijing time, the mixed doubles final of the Japan National Table Tennis Championships came to an end, and the national table tennis rivals Zhang Benzhihe / Hayata Hina played steadily, defeating world champion Makoto Yoshimura and his partner Li Jia 3-1 after 4 rounds of vicious battles to win the gold medal in the event for the first time, while Zhang Benzhi and his 13-year-old sister Zhang Benmiwa won the bronze medal.
Although the first battle was almost cold out, Zhang Benzhi and / Hayata Shina were after all the mixed doubles runners-up of the Xinke World Table Tennis Championships, and the strength was strong, while Yoshimura Maharu did not cooperate with his world table tennis champion partner Ishikawa Yoshijun, so the strength was greatly reduced, and it was difficult to reach the final but fell short, and it was indeed some regrets.
Makoto Yoshimura was the gold medalist at the 2017 World Table Tennis Championships in Düsseldorf, when he teamed up with Yoshinori Ishikawa to break the Japanese team's decades-long world championship drought and win important honors for the island table tennis.
Unfortunately, due to the lack of singles strength, Makoto Yoshimura was not selected for the Tokyo Olympics list, and as a result, Mizutani Hayabusa and Ito Mishimasa were given the opportunity to play and won the gold medal in the mixed doubles event. In this Japanese table tennis championships, Makoto Yoshimura did not cooperate with Ishikawa Yoshinori to play in mixed doubles, so the overall doubles level dropped significantly.
On the other hand, Tomokazu Jang and Hina Hayata began to take on mixed double roles for Japan after The Mizutani Hayabusa retired, and won the silver medal at the 2021 Houston World Table Tennis Championships. However, this year's national championship duo were bumpy, and the first match almost collapsed, 3-2 to win to Izumo Tokudou / Chiba Naozuki, and the fourth round was 3-2 to win Kobayashi Hiroyuki / Izusawa Kosawa.
However, in the semi-finals, Zhang Benzhi and /Hayata Shina still withstood the pressure, defeating Yukiya Utada / Miyu Kihara 3-1. As for Makoto Yoshimura and Li Jia Suzuki, they narrowly defeated Kenta Tae-tae /Mikazu Akimoto in the semi-finals, thus advancing to the final to compete with Tomokazu Akira Akira / Hina Hayata.
In the final battle, Zhang Benzhi and /Hina Hayata took the lead and won the first set 12-10 thrillingly, but then they were pulled back by the opponent 11-8. At the crucial moment, the youngsters' performances were more vivid, with Zhang Benzhi and /Hina Hayata taking down two consecutive cities 11-9, 11-8, thus achieving a 3-1 victory, defeating Makoto Yoshimura / Suzuki Lijia to win the championship.
However, at present, the mixed doubles level of Zhang Benzhi and / Hayata Hina has not yet reached the level of Masaharu Yoshimura / Yoshiharu Ishikawa, Hayabusa Mizutani / Mito Mishimasa, and the competition with the national table tennis combination is obviously more inferior, and it is estimated that the future will be greatly honed to prepare for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Next, Zhang Benzhihe will continue to compete in the men's singles and men's doubles events, so can he impact the glory of the "Triple Crown"? Let's wait and see!