The 2022 Japan Table Tennis National Championships has come to an end, and on the afternoon of January 29, the men's doubles championship was officially released: national table tennis rival Zhang Benzhi and partner Masataka Morien collapsed in the final, losing 3 consecutive sets of 2-0 lead and being reversed, while their opponent, world table tennis bronze medalist Yukiya Utada / Toue Hayabusa, won the final championship without any danger.
Prior to this, Zhang Benzhi and /Masashi Morien had won the semi-final because their opponent Yuya Oshima was diagnosed with a new crown and did not fight, but the two did not seize the opportunity to reach the top. Due to Zhang Benzhi and mixed doubles win the championship before, the men's singles was out of the cold, so he has now ended all the battles in this year's Japanese table tennis championships, and finally won 1 gold and 1 silver, regret more than joy.
Influenced by The retirement of Hayabusa Mizutani and Takashi Niwa's abandonment of doubles, Zhang Benzhihe became the only Olympic main athlete to play in the men's doubles event of this year's Japanese Table Tennis Championships, so everyone also had high hopes for him, but in the past, his fixed partners in men's doubles were Yukiya Utada and Isamu Kisaki, and occasionally cooperated with Takashi Niwa and Hayabusa Mizutani, and this time Paimori Ensei Masashi's words were somewhat unfamiliar.
In addition, the cooperation between Zhang Benzhi and his old partner Yukiya Utada and Hayabusa Tokami is gradually getting better, and last year's World Table Tennis Championships also won the bronze medal in the men's doubles event, and this national championship reached the final, so Zhang Benzhihe faced a severe test.
After the start of the final, Zhang Benzhi and /MoriEn Masashige took the lead and came out on top 11-8. Then the two gritted their teeth in the second set and spelled out the key points, 14-12 next city, the big score of 2-0 lead to force the opponent into a desperate situation, just one step away from victory.
However, at this most critical moment, Yukiya Utada / Hayabusa Tokami broke out into an amazing fighting force, continuous counterattacks, and threw Zhang Benji and / Morien Masataka to the top, winning three consecutive sets of 11-5, 11-6, 11-7, thus achieving a great reversal of 3 consecutive sets, following the World Table Tennis Championships, once again achieving men's doubles results, it can be said that it is currently the strongest men's doubles combination in Japanese table tennis!
How to say it, in recent years, although Zhang Benzhihe has created greater pressure on the national table tennis, but the results are very unstable, the Olympic Games, the World Table Tennis Championships have been repeatedly upset, at the same time in Japan's domestic "backyard fire", 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 did not win the men's singles championship of the national championships, doubles also ups and downs, which shows that other Japanese table tennis players are also growing rapidly.
So will Yukiya Utada / Hayabusa Tokami become another big opponent of national table tennis in the men's doubles? In March this year, the two teams are expected to meet in the WTT Grand Slam, and there may also be doubles confrontations, so let's wait and see!