On April 10, local time, in the second round of the 2024 men's singles at the WTT feeder tournament Dusseldorf Station, the top seed Chinese Taipei team Gao Chengrui lost 1-3 to the Japanese team Tanaka Yutai. It is worth mentioning that as a player of the Japanese national table tennis team, Yutai Tanaka relies on "crowdfunding" to play the game.
Yuki Tanaka
Gao Chengrui
Yutai Tanaka 3-1 Gao Chengrui
In the first game, Gao Chengrui led 8-4, Tanaka Yutai chased the score 8-9, and Gao Chengrui grasped the key points and won the first game 11-8. In the second game, Tanaka Yutai started 6-0, Gao Chengrui chased 7-7, and this game finally came to 9-9 game point fighting, Gao Chengrui missed the game point, Tanaka Yutai won 14-12.
In the third game, Yutai Tanaka opened the score 8-4 and won 11-7. In the fourth game, Yutai Tanaka opened the score 7-2 and won the game 11-6. As the top seed, Gao Chengrui had a bye in the first round and played directly in the second round, losing 1-3 to Yutai Tanaka in the second round.
Alternative exists, relying on "crowdfunding" to play the game
When it comes to Yutai Tanaka, national table tennis fans will have the impression that in last year's Asian Championships, he once gave Wang Chuqin a round of tours 3-2, which caused heated discussions at the time.
Yutai Tanaka crowdfunding
This time he participated in the regional events continuously, and Yutai Tanaka also relied on "crowdfunding" to pay for air tickets and accommodation. As early as November 2023, we launched an online "crowdfunding" campaign, and in the end, 981,000 yen was raised for the contest in late March and early April 2024.
In early April, in the national team list announced by the Japanese team, Yutai Tanaka is one of the five players of the national team, and the other four are Tomokazu Zhangmoto, Hayasuke Togami, Shinozuka Daito, and Matsushima Teruku.