Billiards" Let 2 chase 3 again! Zhang Benzhi and China's dark horse chipping team made a huge comeback to achieve 2 consecutive victories.

Tomokazu Harimoto, the Japanese star ranked third in the world, overcame a 0:2 deficit in the game in the men's singles final of the 2026 Asian Table Tennis Championships tonight, and reversed the 19-year-old Chinese chipping dark horse Li Tianyang 3:2 to complete his second consecutive championship. He is also the second Japanese player in history to defend the men's singles championship in the Asian Championships after Nobuhiko Hasegawa in 1972 and 1974.

Zhang Benzhihe defeated Chinese star Wen Ruibo, ranked 14th in the world, in straight threes in the men's singles semi-finals this afternoon. It was also his second consecutive victory over Wen Ruibo after the Nagoya Asian Games men's team finals.

Facing Li Tianyang, ranked 66th in the world, in the final, Zhang Ben was not used to his opponent's rotation at the beginning and made frequent mistakes. He lost 11 points in a row after 1:0 and gave up at 1:11. In the second game, Zhang Benzhihe launched a counterattack after falling behind 1:5 in the beginning, leading 8:6, but Li Tianyang then launched a forehand attack to score 3 points in a row, regaining the lead at 9:8, forcing Zhang Benz to call a timeout. After returning to the game, Zhang Benz first tied the game at 9, but then missed the ball on his forehand opportunity, losing 2 points in a row, and lost another game at 9:11.

Zhang Benzhihe performed a "let 2 chase 3" drama in the top 8 yesterday, reversing Feng Yixin, who is ranked 30th in the world. He did the same today. After the 4:0 start in the third game, although he was once chased by Li Tianyang to 6:5, he quickly recovered and succeeded in consecutive forehand attacks when leading at 9:7 and regained the victory at 11:7. In the fourth game, he also scored 4 points in a row when trailing at 5:6 and tied the game at 11:8.

The climax of the decisive game came one after another. Zhang Benzhihe took a 3:1 lead at the beginning and forced Li Tianyang to take a timeout. After the game resumed, Zhang Benz was unyielding and launched another wave of 4:1 offensive, stretching the score to 7:2. He was about to take away the victory. Unexpectedly, he messed up his position and made unnecessary mistakes continuously, and was chased by his opponent to a 7-level draw. At the critical moment, Li Tianyang turned from defense to offense but made consecutive mistakes. Zhang Ben seized the opportunity and scored 4 points in a row, winning the championship in a thrilling manner at 11:7.