On March 14, Beijing time, the Japanese table tennis world received bad news, that is, the number one main force of their men's team, Zhang Benzhihe, was once again defeated, following the men's singles "round trip" lost to the American young player Kanek, the mixed doubles also stopped in the quarterfinals with partner Hayata Hina, and it was a 0-3 fiasco, swept by the Hong Kong combination of Huang Zhenting / Du Kaixuan, who had been in a slump for a long time.
As the runner-up of the World Cup men's singles and the runner-up of the Mixed Doubles of the World Table Tennis Championships, Zhang Benzhihe's current performance is really surprising, and now he has completely "rolled up and left" to lose all the projects he registered at the Grand Slam, for which many people can't help but wonder: Is this former "genius teenager" now completely incompetent?
After the arrival of 2022, Zhang Benzhihe's performance is indeed inexplicable: in the first battle, the Japan National Championship, Zhang Benzhihe won the mixed doubles and men's doubles championships, but the men's singles even lost to Makoto Yoshimura before even reaching the semifinals; in the second game, the Japanese T League, Zhang Benzhihe led Tokyo to win the championship; in the third game, japan's round of 32, Zhang Benzhihe won the men's singles championship.
However, after the start of the WTT Grand Slam, Zhang Benzhihe's performance disappointed the Japanese fans, the men's singles originally expected him to break through the national table tennis defense line again, but the result was to end the battle just after playing; the mixed doubles took the runner-up of the World Table Tennis Championships last year, and this year won the national championship, and the result was swept away by the 0-3 fiasco - 2 events did not encounter the shadow of the national table tennis and were out, it was really miserable!
In fact, when we look at Zhang Benzhihe's results in the past 3 years, we will find that his state fluctuations are really not a matter of one day or two days: the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships lost to South Korea's An Jae-hyun, the 2021 Olympic Games lost to Slovenia's Dako, and the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships lost to Poland's Jacob.
In Japan's national championships, Tomokazu Chang lost to Yuya Oshima in 2019, Yukiya Utada in 2020, Reiki Kazukawa in 2021, and Makoru Yoshimura in 2022. Whether it is a foreign war or a civil war, Zhang Benzhihe has not shown the athlete level of the World Cup singles runner-up, the finals singles champion, the world's top 4, and the main defense line of national table tennis many times.
Personally, I believe that the reason why Zhang Benzhihe has such a situation is mainly because his age is too young (currently not yet 19 years old), he has participated in so many major competitions at a young age (he played in the World Table Tennis Championships at the age of 13, it has been nearly 5 years now), and he is still psychologically immature, so there is still a great lack of control over the competition.
In addition, the competition in the men's table tennis field is already very fierce, and many famous players who are more mature than Zhang Benzhi and zhang are often upset and lose, let alone the younger him? Relatively speaking, the competition of women's table tennis is obviously much more relaxed, like Ito Mimachi, although he occasionally plants his head, but now he rarely loses athletes other than the main force of national table tennis, which is the gap.
It is difficult for table tennis players in ordinary countries to get Zhang Benzhi and so many world championship opportunities before the age of 20, so everyone often only sees the success of Zhang Benzhihe, but forgets that this athlete is several years younger than the players in the same rank, or even teenagers, and asks: An 18-year-old national table tennis non-main player loses the game, will there be such a big sensation?
Personally, I think that the national table tennis still cannot take Zhang Benzhihe lightly, and do not let down his vigilance because he has always lost recently: his age is originally the time to lose, once the experience accumulation is enough, it may be more powerful, so we must guard against it! So what do you think about Zhang Benzhihe's performance? Feel free to leave a comment and write your own opinion!