In-depth analysis: Why did Zhang Benzhihe lose miserably to African players? A major technical problem has been exposed

In the recently concluded table tennis WTT Singapore Grand Slam, national table tennis archrival and Japanese world runner-up Zhang Benzhihe suffered a crushing defeat, losing 0-3 to Africa's Nigerian Aruna, almost the whole time was beaten. Before that, he narrowly won 3-2 against national table tennis junior Xiang Peng, and he was also 0-2 behind and 3-2 against French "nameless" Akuzu.

Playing three consecutive games like this, many fans can't help but wonder: Is this still the athlete who broke the world champions Lin Gaoyuan, Wang Chuqin, Fan Zhendong, Pol and Ochalov last year? What's wrong with Zhang Benzhi and this?

In fact, when we carefully observe the performance of Zhang Benzhi and these balls, we will find that there is a huge loophole in the technical system of this national table tennis rival, that is: in the process of stabilization, we have repeatedly taken the initiative to retreat, use blocking methods to push the ball back first, and then wait for the opportunity to counterattack.

It is under the dominance of this style of play that Zhang Benzhihe has successive narrow victories and final fiasco, so where is the fundamental mistake of this style of play? Why did he make such a choice?

That's what this article is about.

Friends who pay attention to the table tennis world know that Zhang Benzhihe was an athlete with a backhand fast twist and pull as the core of his technique when he debuted, although he was not yet an adult at that time, he had already played all over the table tennis masters with his excellent speed advantage -

Since defeating Mizutani Falcon at the age of 13 to advance to the men's singles quarterfinals of the World Table Tennis Championships, Zhang Benzhihe defeated Zhang Jike, Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Wang Chuqin, Lin Gaoyuan, Liang Jingkun, Pol, Samsonov, Ochalov and other top experts in the table tennis world, but he also exposed two problems at that time.

First, Zhang Benzhi and speed are more than enough, but his strength is not enough, and once he retreats from Taiwan to form a stalemate, he will suffer a great loss; Second, Zhang Benzhi and his backhand is sharp, but his forehand is serious, so he is often caught by his opponent and constantly launches counterattacks.

However, since the second half of 2022, Zhang Benzhihe's technique has undergone earth-shaking changes, the backhand is obviously slower than before, but the strength of the forehand has been greatly strengthened, and the stand-off after retiring from the stage is also more than before, so it has caused many opponents to be uncomfortable, especially the Chinese team lost to him by 2 points in the World Table Tennis Championships, shocking the table tennis world.

But it is under such circumstances that Zhang Benzhihe's road of technological transformation has gradually become "crooked".

The root cause of Zhang Benzhi's technical change is that his physical hardware has changed - in the past year or so, it can be clearly seen that Zhang Motochi has grown from a child to a "strong man", and now he is tall and big, and exists like a giant in the average height of the Japanese men's team.

In such a physical situation, Zhang Benzhihe could not be as flexible as when he was a child, and had to step back to make room for his new body. As a result, we see that Zhang Benzhihe's near-Taiwan speed has been weakened, but the strength of retreating Taiwan has been greatly enhanced, and there are losses and gains, and how to balance this gain and loss has become an important issue in front of Zhang Benzhihe.

At the beginning, Zhang Benzhihe handled it well, using the near-stage backhand half-bounce, half-pull to continue to maintain speed, but if it didn't work, he withdrew and pulled, anyway, the strength also kept up without the same fear as before, and sometimes even had an advantage.

This advantage has been reflected in the World Table Tennis Championships when he confronted Wang Chuqin and Fan Zhendong, and later when he played against Boll and Ochalov, when his strength was not inferior to European players, his speed was faster, and his forehand also had an advantage, which was simply a hanging.

However, after the arrival of the New Year, Zhang Benzhihe's technical and tactical concepts regressed.

Since the Japan National Championship in January 2023, Tomokazu Chang has shown signs of "not wanting to make progress" and touching the ball back first, losing to Hayasuke Togami at that time, and then losing to Liang Jingkun in the WTT India Star Tournament in February, but his main problem at that time was that he couldn't get up fast, and by the time of the WTT Singapore Grand Slam, it was completely slow.

Yes, Zhang Benzhihe, who was once known for his speed, now not only does not play fast, but even seems very slow, and the first few boards blindly seek stability, first hit the ball on the stage before speaking. It is under the guidance of this idea that it is difficult for Zhang Benzhihe to gain a foothold in the near platform, so he can only choose to retreat to exchange space for time, and then find an opportunity to pull back.

To be fair, Zhang Benzhihe's current strength is indeed very large, so once the anti-pull after his retirement works, it is indeed difficult for the opponent to prevent it back - the current Zhang Benzhihe fully has the capital to compete with almost anyone in the table tennis world.

But the question is: will the opponent give you this opportunity?

Don't you see that when Zhang Benzhi and himself debuted, didn't he force his opponent to retreat through the speed of the near stage, and then win with fast and slow fighting? Now that time has passed, it is he who is passively beaten!

And an important reason why Zhang Benzhihe will lose so badly to Aruna is that this opponent's strength is much greater than him! Against others, Zhang Benzhihe may still be able to retreat to fight a counterattack, but his strength is simply not worth mentioning in front of Aruna, so what is left to defeat the enemy?

In the past, Aruna and Zhang Benzhihe were at a disadvantage when they played each other, because the speed of the near platform was not as good as the other party, but now Zhang Benzhihe took the initiative to reduce the speed in the near platform, and always returned some transitional balls, and it is estimated that the heart is happy:

Aruna's usual credo is "one force down ten meetings", in this field, I do not allow the table tennis to have a more bullish existence than myself!

As a result, the battle with Aruna became a one-sided fight, and the Japanese junior was beaten without temper. As for the strength of the national table tennis player, although it is not as great as Aruna, he can take advantage of his strength and accelerate the attack when he does not stand from near to far to win the first opportunity - Liang Jingkun's performance in the WTT India Star Tournament is very good.

Of course, there may still be new technical and tactical changes in the future, so we still need to observe his performance in a few more matches. However, the Durban World Table Tennis Championships is approaching step by step, leaving him little time, the national table tennis should seize the opportunity as much as possible to suppress this opponent before the start of the World Table Tennis Championships, when you encounter it again in the World Table Tennis Championships, you can win more easily.