Billiards》The tennis ball becomes a turning point! Guo Guanhong won the bronze despite being reversed after 5 fierce battles

Guo Guanhong was reversed by Chinese chipper Li Tianyang in the men's singles semi-finals and missed the championship. (Taken from WTT official website)

[Reporter Xu Mingli/Comprehensive Report] Tainan young player Guo Guanhong, who just turned 18 yesterday, fought with 19-year-old Chinese chipping dark horse Li Tianyang to the decisive game in the men's singles semi-finals of the 2026 Asian Table Tennis Championships today, and was defeated by his opponent in a 6:6 draw. Affected by a lucky tennis shot, his mood fluctuated and he lost 5 points in a row. In the end, he was reversed 2:3 and missed the final ticket. He still accepted the bronze medal. He was also the third Taiwanese player in history to win the men's singles bronze medal in the Asian Championships after Zhuang Zhiyuan and Lin Yunru.

Li Tianyang, ranked 66th in the world, is an offensive slicer. He won 6 consecutive games in the Astana Star Challenge last month starting from the qualifying round, including defeating Slovenian Jokic and French rookie Cotton. He did not lose to German pen-hand sweep star Qiu Dang until the top 4. Yesterday, he defeated teammate Xiang Peng in straight games in the men's singles top 8.

Facing the unfamiliar Li Tianyang, Guo Guanhong was in a desperate situation at 8:10 in the first game. He relied on his fierce offensive on the first three boards to resolve 2 game points in a row and then overtook at 11:10. Although Li Tianyang escaped 1 game point, Xiao Guo then served and received the ball and scored 2 points with a forehand attack. At 13:11, Chi Chi won the point. In the second game, Guo Guanhong couldn't see the rotation of the ball and made too many mistakes on the offensive end, falling behind 2:7. Although he once caught up to 7:8 and forced his opponent to use a timeout, his forehand went out of bounds at the critical moment and gave up at 7:11.

In the third game, Guo Guanhong decisively called a timeout after losing 2 points in a row with a 6:3 lead. After returning to the game, he found an offensive rhythm and once again took the lead at 11:7. Unexpectedly, the fourth game encountered turbulence again, with consecutive out-of-bounds receptions and service errors. After a 1:4 start, the game started to lose ground, and soon lost at 2:11.

In the decisive game, Guo Guanhong overcame a 1:3 deficit at the beginning and overtook 5:4. After changing sides, the two sides tied at 6 again. At the critical moment, Li Tianyang's forehand pull of the ball hit the net, causing Guo to make a mistake in returning the ball. He couldn't help complaining and swearing. The next ball was received by his opponent and the opponent succeeded in attacking. Guo was in a mess and made unnecessary mistakes one after another, and finally lost his temper at 6:11.

In another men's singles final, Japanese star Tomokazu Harimoto, ranked No. 3 in the world, easily defeated Chinese star Wen Ruibo with 11:5, 11:7, 11:5. He entered the finals for the second time in a row and was only one step away from defending his title.