Billiards》18th birthday makes history! Guo Guanhong swept Huang Zhenting in straight games and entered the semi-finals of the Asian Championships

Guo Guanhong defeated Huang Zhenting in straight games and broke into the top four of the men's singles at the Asian Championships. (Taken from ITTF official website)

[Reporter Xu Mingli/Comprehensive Report] Tainan young player Guo Guanhong defeated the Hong Kong pen-hand shot star Huang Zhenting, ranked 41st in the world, in straight sets tonight in the top 8 of the men's singles at the 2026 Asian Table Tennis Championships. He wrote history on his 18th birthday and became the fourth Taiwanese player in history to reach the top 4 of the Asian Championships men's singles after Jiang Penglong, Zhuang Zhiyuan and Lin Yunru. He is also the youngest Taiwanese player.

Guo Guanhong, ranked 36th in the world, met Huang Zhenting for the first time at the Asian Team Championships last year and was shocked and beaten 0:3. However, this year Guo Guanhong has grown astonishingly. He recently defeated Huang Zhenting 3:1 in the men's team top 8 and led the Taiwan team into the top four.

Tonight they met again. In the first game, Guo Guanhong took the initiative and aggressively attacked. He led all the way after the start of 4:1 and took the lead at 11:4. In the second game, Xiao Guo fell behind at 2:5 at the beginning. He succeeded in stealing a long ball and tied it at 5, forcing his opponent to call a timeout. After returning to the game, Xiao Guo took another serve from his opponent when leading at 8:7. Then he also had the upper hand in the stalemate and won again at 11:7.

In the third game, the two sides kept each other's serve and fought all the way to an 8-level tie. At the decisive moment, Xiao Guo succeeded in two consecutive backhand attacks. In the end, he received the serve and twisted it, causing his opponent's return ball to go out of bounds. He won 2 consecutive victories at 11:8.

Guo Guanhong will face off against 19-year-old Chinese chipper Li Tianyang in the top four tomorrow. Li Tianyang, ranked 66th in the world, defeated his teammate Xiang Peng, ranked 33rd in the world, 11:6, 11:8, 11:7 in the quarterfinals. He also reached the top four for the first time.