On March 19, Beijing time, the WTT Singapore Grand Slam tournament entered the final stage. With the success of the finals of men's doubles and women's doubles, the Chinese delegation locked all the gold medals in the five individual events in advance. However, under the bright results, people smell a hint of danger - compared to the Dragons easily defeated teammate Liang Jingkun 4-0 to advance to the second half of the final, the showdown between Fan Zhendong and Japanese teenager Yukiya Utada in the first half was extremely anxious.
Although the world's no. 1 fat man successfully advanced to the final after six rounds of fighting, the process was not easy at all. Among them, the score of 4 innings was between 2 points, and the key 4th set was until 16-14 before Fan Zhendong struggled to win. It's hard to imagine how the final course of this game would have changed if the fourth set had been lost. The two sides once fought to a 9 draw in the decider, and Fan Zhendong, who was more dominant in technical and tactical level and psychology, scored 2 points in a row, or showed a stronger strength than the opponent.
Heroes cherish heroes, only the parties can best appreciate the difficulty of the game, so after the game, Fan Zhendong gave the opponent Yukiya the highest courtesy in an interview: Xiao Fat suggested that the audience give applause to Utada. It can be said that the post-00s Japanese teenager born in 2001 has won the respect of Fan Zhendong, the world's number one, with his strength and performance.
In the men's doubles final that ended earlier, Yukiya Utada and teammate Tokami Hayabusa, who lost to Fan Zhendong/Wang Chuqin, won a valuable silver medal. Overall, this trip to Singapore was a great reward for Yukiya Utada. Perhaps many fans will wonder, who is this Yukiya Utada? Before that, we may have heard more about the names of Hayabusa Mizutani, Tomokazu Akira, Takashi Niwa, Masataka Morien, Kazuhiro Yoshimura, and didn't know much about Yukiya Utada.
In fact, Yukiya Utada was already crowned all-day champion three years ago at the 2020 All-Day Championship. However, he was not as famous as Zhang Benzhi and slightly older than zhang Benzhi, and his limelight was also overshadowed. During the journey to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Yukiya Utada and Hina Hayata were P card players for the Japanese team. What is this concept? Wang Manyu, who replaced Liu Shiwen at the Tokyo Olympics, is a P card player, generally the reserve force of the team and the next star of hope. Like Fan Zhendong, who defeated Yukiya Utada, Hexagonal Warrior Ma Long, and "Little Jujube" Liu Shiwen, they all worked as P card players and shined in the next Olympic Games.
From this point of view, compared with Ito Mimako, who is confident that he has been defeated and has a lot of meaning, Zhang Benzhiwa, who has recently played poorly and has repeatedly exploded, Hayata Hina, who has been affirmed by Sun Yingsha as "rapid progress in the past 3 months", and Yukiya Utada, who shined and won the praise of Fan Zhendong, are the real core of the Japanese team's preparation for the Paris Olympic cycle. As the two men grow further, the main structure and resource tilt of the Japanese team may also change.
Don't look at the men's singles world rankings as of the 11th week of 2022, Yukiya Utada is only ranked 73rd and Zhang Benzhihe's world 4th place, and his ranking will gradually rise as the gold-rich WTT Singapore Grand Slam men's singles final four are recorded. Compared with Zhang Benzhi and the style of playing that never retreats and focuses on the first three boards, Yukiya Utada's technique is more comprehensive, and once he grows to a complete body, his stability will be incomparable to Zhang Ben.
The Japanese table tennis team sacrificed an entire generation of talent to get a chance to shine at the Tokyo Olympics, and they obviously have a backhand – Yukiya Utada should not be underestimated. At a time when Zhang Benzhihe is gradually studied thoroughly and slowly loses the threat, how to prevent it from happening before it happens, and be careful of the rise of Yukiya Utada? Liu Guoliang should be careful in guiding, and the layout in advance is the king's way.