On March 1, Beijing time, Japan's table tennis world runner-up Zhang Benzhihe participated in his high school graduation ceremony - yes, this national table tennis opponent who has defeated Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan, Wang Chuqin and many other world champions, before that, he was just a high school student.
For his three-year high school career, Zhang Benzhihe said that although it was short, he was very happy, and at the same time expressed his gratitude to his teachers and classmates: The new stage of his life is about to kick off at waseda University and the table tennis arena at the same time.
As we all know, Zhang Benzhihe is very young: he was born in 2003 and will only turn 19 in June this year. Compared with the national table tennis side, Ma Long is more than 14 years older than him, Fan Zhendong is more than 6 years older than him, and even Wang Chuqin, the youngest world champion of the men's team, is 3 years older than Zhang Benzhihe.
What is even more incredible is that Zhang Benzhihe reached the men's singles quarterfinals of the World Table Tennis Championships at the age of 13, won the men's singles championship in the finals at the age of 15, and won the silver medal in the men's singles of the World Cup at the age of 16, which is rare in the entire history of table tennis.
Off the field, Zhang Benzhihe's mother was very strict, always insisting that her son not fall behind in the culture class, and hoped that Jackie Chan would look forward to Zhang Benzhihe being able to take the exam at the University of Tokyo, but this requirement was really difficult for Zhang Benzhihe, who was training and taking classes at the same time, so he finally had to retreat to the second place and be admitted to Waseda University.
According to previous Japanese media reports, Zhang Benzhi is indeed very hard in peacetime, and the teachers are also very understanding of the requirements such as leave, which is also an important guarantee for him to successfully complete his junior high and high school studies.
It is reported that Zhang Benzhihe will study human environmental science at Waseda University, but it is clear that the table tennis arena is his main position, as the number one player of the current Japanese men's team, Zhang Benzhihe is very hopeful to fight for more than three Olympic Games, when he will also end his undergraduate studies at Waseda University, I don't know if he will continue his studies.
Before that, Ai Fukuhara had also graduated from Waseda University and became a star figure across the sports and business worlds after retiring from the military, so would Zhang Benzhihe also embark on such a path? The future is not easy to predict, let's wait and see what happens!