Who is Ma Long? Bio, Wiki, Age, Career

Ma Long Bio – Ma Long Wiki

Mǎ Lóng is a Chinese table tennis player and the reigning Olympic singles champion. Widely regarded as the greatest table tennis player of all time, he is the first and only male player to complete a career Double Grand Slam as the Olympic gold medalist in men’s singles in 2016 and 2020. He held the ranking of number 1 for a total of 64 months.

Age:

Ma Long is 34 years old.

DETAIL OF CAREER RECORDED:

After winning both the Asian and World Junior Championships, Ma became the youngest world champion at the age of 17 after he participated in the 2006 Bremen World Team Championship. He developed his foundations under the tutelage of Wang Hao and former Chinese National Team coach Ma Kai Xuan before studying under Qin Zhijian. Before turning 22, he had great success in singles, reaching the finals of 11 ITTF World Tour tournaments. He won the Asian Cup and World Tour Grand Finals twice and also made it to the final round of the Asian Championships two times (losing to former coach Wang Hao in 2007. In addition, he played in the finals of the China National Games and All-China Championships, losing both matches to Wang. Despite being the No. 1 player in the world for much of the 2010–2012 stretch, he was not chosen to represent China at the 2012 Olympics due to his temporary dip in ratings that happened after a 560-day win streak on the ITTF World Tour. He suffered a career setback by Japan’s Koki Niwa in six games at the Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament, then lost to Lee Sang-su at the 2012 Korea Open, 4–1. As players were selected based on the ITTF World Rankings, he was not given an opportunity to win an Olympic medal in singles at the time when he was widely accepted as the best table tennis player in the world.

Chinese National Team coach Liu Guoliang remarked that Ma had all the tools necessary to be the best, yet at major tournaments, he had so far lacked the sufficient mental toughness to play to his full ability under pressure. This was evident in his losses to Timo Boll and Vladimir Samsonov in the 2008 and 2009 World Cup semifinals, and to Wang Hao in the semifinals of three consecutive World Championships. Although he performed well on the ITTF World Tour and in domestic competitions, he didn’t make it to the final of the World Championships in his first four attempts. This led to many believing he was inferior to compatriot Zhang Jike, who completed his Grand Slam in just over a year.