Ma Long

Ma Long
Ma Long at the 2013 World Cup
Nickname:	肥 龙 , féi lóng  - "fat dragon"
Nation:	People's Republic of China
Date of birth:	October 20, 1988
Place of birth:	Anshan (Liaoning)
Playing hand:	right
How to play:	Shakehand
Current world rankings :	3 (April 2020)
Best world ranking :	1 (Jan. – Dec. 2010, Oct. 2011 – May 2012, March, April 2013, July 2013 – Feb. 2014, Feb. 2015 – Dec. 2017)
Current continental ranking position:	3
Best continental ranking:	1
Current national ranking:	3
Best national ranking:	1

Ma Long ( Chinese  馬龍  /  马龙 , Pinyin Mǎ Lóng ; born October 20, 1988 in Anshan, Liaoning ) is a Chinese table tennis player who was consistently in the top 10 of the men's world rankings from March 2007 to October 2018 . He is the current world champion and Olympic championin singles and is one of the most successful table tennis players with an Olympic victory, three World Cup and two World Cup titles, five victories at the World Tour Grand Finals and numerous other titles. He is right-handed and uses the European shakehand style to hold his bat .

Career

In 2004 Ma Long won both the Asian and the World Youth Championships and started appearing increasingly internationally from the following year. In October 2005 he improved his world rankings by more than 70 places to 51st, two months later he was already 21st. At the 2006 World Cup , he was part of the national team and thus became world champion at the age of 17. Since then he has also (as of 2016) won all other world titles with the team. In March 2007, after his first Pro Tour victory in individual at the Kuwait Open, he moved up to 8th place in the world rankings and thus for the first time into the top 10. In 2008 he was not nominated for the Olympic Games , but in addition to the Team World Cup, he also won the Asian Cup and the Pro Tour Grand Finals. He also took part in the World Cup for the first time , where he won bronze after a semi-final defeat by Timo Boll , just like at the World Cup the following year , this time after a semi-final defeat by Vladimir Samsonov . In 2009 he also won his first individual medal at world championships with bronze, in addition to silver in doubles. He also won gold again at the Asian Cup and the Pro Tour Grand Finals, and at the Asian Championships he was the first player to win all four titles (in singles, doubles, mixed and with the team).

In January 2010 he reached number 1 in the world rankings for the first time and held this position throughout the year. Except for the Asian Games, which he won, no other major titles followed this year. At the 2011 World Championships - as in 2009 after a semi-final defeat by Wang Hao - he won bronze in the singles again, and he won the Asian Cup and the Pro Tour Grand Finals for the third time. Nevertheless, it temporarily fell back to 5th place in the world rankings before moving back to the top in October. Although he was not nominated for the 2012 Olympic Games in singles , he won the World Cup for the first time after beating Timo Boll in the final . His preliminary round defeat on September 28, 2012 against the Taiwanese Chuang Chih-Yuan was his last defeat against a non-Chinese until April 14, 2017, when he lost to the South Korean Jeong Sang-eun , who is far behind him in the world rankings . At the next individual world championships in Paris he had to admit defeat to Wang Hao in the semifinals for the third time in a row, in 2014 he lost the final of the World Cup after 3-2 lead against Zhang Jike 3-4 .

Ma Long finally made his breakthrough in 2015/16: He returned to number 1 in the world rankings in March 2015, became world champion and set a new record with his sixth title at the China Open. At the World Cup he lost only one set (against Omar Assar ), while his opponents averaged only six points per set after that. He also won the Grand Finals for the fourth time at the end of the year and was nominated for the first time in individual for the Olympic Games in 2016 . There he defeated Zhang Jike 4-0 in the final and thus completed the Grand Slam of Olympic victory, world championship and world cup title within less than 500 days. After Jan-Ove Waldner , Liu Guoliang , Kong Linghui and Zhang Jike, he was the fifth player to succeed, after Zhang Jike the second to hold all three titles at the same time. If these big titles are added to the World Tour Grand Finals, he was the second player after Kong Linghui to win all four and the first to win all four tournaments at the same time. At this point he had also spent a total of 48 months (4 years) at the top of the world rankings, only surpassed by Wang Liqin at 54 months. Ma Long finally set his record in March 2017, since then he has been the player who has been number one in the world rankings for the longest time. At the 2017 World Championship , he defended his singles title after winning over Timo Boll , Xu Xin and Fan Zhendong . In June he was listed at number 1 in the world rankings for the 28th consecutive month, setting the record of the previous record holder Wang Hao , who had been number 1 between October 2007 and December 2009, among other things.

At the China Open in June 2017, Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin boycotted their round of 16 games. This was in protest against the fact that coach Liu Guoliang had been "promoted" to one of 15 vice presidents and had lost his coaching position. On-site spectators expressed their support for Liu Guoliang. The Chinese Ministry of Sports announced consequences. Other Chinese national players also expressed their support on Weibo , but corresponding entries were subsequently deleted. Identical apologies were posted on the players' Weibo pages the next day. The following week, all male Chinese players registered for the Australian Open (including Xu Xin and Fan Zhendong) were canceled. In late October, the ITTF sentenced the three boycotting players to a fine of $ 20,000 each. These competed again at the Chinese national games in August / September - from September to November they also played internationally again - in which Ma Long won gold in singles and was the first player to defend his title. In his first international appearance since the China Open, he lost to Timo Boll 3: 4 in the World Cup semi-finals in October and finally won bronze. With the introduction of the new world rankings from 2018, which rewards active players, he fell back to 7th place in January, his worst position in more than 10 years. In the same year Ma won the Team World Cup and the World Championship with the team and the German and China Open in singles. However, he also struggled with injury problems this year and canceled the Grand Finals after the Swedish and Austrian Open. In addition, he even fell out of the top 10 of the world rankings due to fewer appearances. After returning from the injury break, he showed strong performances again with the victory at the Qatar Open , in April he then won the World Championship both in singles - for the third time in a row and without losing more than one set in a game - and in Double. With the victory at the China Open a month later he won his 28th World Tour title in singles and thus set a new record. After the Korea and Australian Open in July, he was again inactive for a few months. In November he won gold with the team at the Team World Cup , but in the individual World Cup he failed in the semifinals to Tomokazu Harimoto and lost in the game for third place against Lin Yun-Ju . At the Grand Finals at the end of the year he was defeated in the final against Fan Zhendong and won silver.

successes

team

• Olympic Games : Gold 2012 , 2016
• World Championships : Gold 2006 , 2008 , 2010 , 2012 , 2014 , 2016 , 2018
• World Cup : Gold 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2019
• Asian Cup : Gold 2005, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2017
• Asian Games: Gold 2006, 2010, 2014
• Chinese Championships: Gold 2011, 2012, 2018
• Chinese Super League: Gold 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015
• Youth World Championship: Gold 2003, 2004

singles

• Olympic Games: Gold 2016
• World Championships: Gold 2015 , 2017 , 2019 , Bronze 2009 , 2011 , 2013
• World Cup : Gold 2012 , 2015 , Silver 2014 , Bronze 2008 , 2009 , 2017
• World Tour Grand Finals : Gold 2008, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2016, Silver 2013, 2019 , Bronze 2007
• 28 titles on the World Tour / Pro Tour
• Asian Cup: Gold 2009, 2012, 2013, Silver 2007
• Asian Games: Gold 2010
• Asian Cup: Gold 2008, 2009, 2011, 2014, Silver 2019
• Chinese National Games: Gold 2013, 2017
• Chinese Championships: Gold 2011
• Youth World Championship: Gold 2004

Double

• World Championships: Gold 2011 (with Xu Xin), 2019 (Wang Chuqin), silver 2009 (Xu Xin)
• Asian Cup: Gold 2007, 2009
• Asian Games: Gold 2014, Bronze 2006
• World Tour Grand Finals: Gold 2006, Silver 2011, Bronze 2007
• 22 titles on the World Tour / Pro Tour
• Chinese Championships: Gold 2010, 2015
• Youth World Championship: Silver 2004 (with Zhou Bin)

Mixed

• Asian Cup: Gold 2009, Bronze 2005
• Chinese National Games: Gold 2013 (with Ding Ning )
• Chinese Championships: Gold 2012
• Youth World Championship: Silver 2003, 2004 (with Chang Chenchen )

Results from the ITTF database

Association	event	year	place	country	singles	Double	Mixed	team
CHN	Asian Championship	2017	Wuxi	CHN	last 32			1
CHN	Asian Championship	2013	Busan	COR	gold			1
CHN	Asian Championship	2012	Macau	MAC	gold			1
CHN	Asian Championship	2009	Lucknow	IND	gold	gold	gold	1
CHN	Asian Championship	2007	Yangzhou	CHN	silver	gold		1
CHN	Asian Championship	2005	Jeju-do	COR			Semifinals	1
CHN	Asian Cup	2019	Yokohama	JPN	silver
CHN	Asian Cup	2014	Wuhan	CHN	gold
CHN	Asian Cup	2011	Changsha	CHN	gold
CHN	Asian Cup	2009	Hangzhou	CHN	gold
CHN	Asian Cup	2008	Sapporo	JPN	gold
CHN	Asian Games	2014	Suwon	COR		gold		1
CHN	Asian Games	2010	Guangzhou	CHN	gold			1
CHN	Asian Games	2006	Doha	QAT		Semifinals	Quarter finals	1
CHN	Asian Championship (Juniors)	2004	New Delhi	IND	gold	silver	gold	1
CHN	Asian Championship (Juniors)	2003	Hyderabad	IND		silver
CHN	Olympic games	2016	Rio de Janeiro	BRA	gold			1
CHN	Olympic games	2012	London	CLOSELY				1
CHN	Pro tour	2020	Doha	QAT	last 16	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2020	Magdeburg	GER	silver	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2019	Geelong	OUT	Semifinals	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2019	Busan	COR	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2019	Shenzhen	CHN	gold	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2019	Doha	QAT	gold	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2018	Panagyurishte	BUL	last 32	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2018	Shenzhen	CHN	gold	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2018	Bremen	GER	gold	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2017	Tokyo	JPN	gold	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2017	Doha	QAT	gold	last 16
CHN	Pro tour	2016	Cheng you	CHN	silver	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2016	Tokyo	JPN	Semifinals	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2016	Incheon	COR	silver	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2016	Doha	QAT	gold	last 16
CHN	Pro tour	2016	Kuwait City	KUW	silver	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2016	Berlin	GER	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2015	Bremen	GER	gold	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2015	Warsaw	POLE	last 32	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2015	Cheng you	CHN	gold	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2015	Kobe	JPN	last 16	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2015	Kuwait City	KUW	gold	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2014	Cheng you	CHN	gold	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2014	Doha	QAT	last 16	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2013	Dubai	UAE	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2013	Suzhou	CHN	gold	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2013	Changchun	CHN	gold	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2013	Incheon City	COR	silver	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2013	Doha	QAT	gold	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2013	Kuwait City	KUW	silver	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2012	Shanghai	CHN	silver	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2012	Incheon City	COR	last 16	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2012	Velenje	SLO	silver	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2012	Budapest	HUN	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2011	Stockholm	SWE	gold	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2011	Schwechat	AUT	gold	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2011	Suzhou	CHN	gold	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2011	Shenzen	CHN	silver	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2011	Dubai	UAE	silver	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2011	Doha	QAT	Semifinals	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2010	Berlin	GER	gold	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2010	Kuwait City	KUW	Semifinals	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2010	Doha	QAT	Semifinals	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2009	Sheffield	CLOSELY	gold	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2009	Su Zhou	CHN	gold	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2009	Doha	QAT	last 32	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2009	Kuwait City	KUW	gold	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2009	Frederikshavn	THE	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2009	Frederikshavn	THE		gold
CHN	Pro tour	2008	Shanghai	CHN	Quarter finals	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2008	Singapore	SIN	gold	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2008	Daejeon	COR	gold	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2008	Yokohama	JPN	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2008	Changchun	CHN	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2008	Doha	QAT	Quarter finals	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2008	Kuwait City	KUW	Semifinals	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2007	Stockholm	SWE	silver	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2007	Bremen	GER	gold	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2007	Toulouse	FRA	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2007	Shenzhen	CHN	Quarter finals	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2007	Nanjing	CHN	Quarter finals	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2007	Chiba	JPN	silver	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2007	Salwa Cup	KUW	gold	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2007	Doha	QAT	Quarter finals	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2007	Velenje	SVN	last 16	last 16
CHN	Pro tour	2007	Zagreb	HRV	Semifinals	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2006	Guangzhou	CHN	last 16	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2006	Singapore	SIN	Semifinals	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2006	Kunshan	CHN	last 16	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2006	Kuwait City	KUW	last 64	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2006	Doha	QAT	last 32	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2006	Zagreb	HRV	last 16	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2006	Velenje	SVN	Quarter finals	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2005	Gothenburg	SWE	Quarter finals	last 16
CHN	Pro tour	2005	Magdeburg	GER	silver	last 16
CHN	Pro tour	2005	Yokohama	JPN	Semifinals	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2005	Shenzhen	CHN	Semifinals	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2005	Harbin	CHN	last 32	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2005	Doha	QAT	last 32
CHN	World Tour Grand Finals	2019	Zhengzhou	CHN	silver
CHN	World Tour Grand Finals	2016	Doha	QAT	gold
CHN	World Tour Grand Finals	2015	Lisbon	POR	gold
CHN	World Tour Grand Finals	2013	Dubai	UAE	silver
CHN	Pro Tour Grand Finals	2011	London	CLOSELY	gold	silver
CHN	Pro Tour Grand Finals	2009	Macau	MAC	gold
CHN	Pro Tour Grand Finals	2008	Macau	MAC	gold
CHN	Pro Tour Grand Finals	2007	Beijing	CHN	Semifinals	Semifinals
CHN	Pro Tour Grand Finals	2006	Hong Kong	HKG		gold
CHN	Pro Tour Grand Finals	2005	Fuzhou	CHN	Quarter finals
CHN	World Championship	2019	Budapest	HUN	gold	gold
CHN	World Championship	2018	Halmstad	SWE				1
CHN	World Championship	2017	Dusseldorf	GER	gold	last 16
CHN	World Championship	2016	Kuala Lumpur	MAS				1
CHN	World Championship	2015	Suzhou	CHN	gold	last 32
CHN	World Championship	2014	Tokyo	JPN				1
CHN	World Championship	2013	Paris	FRA	Semifinals
CHN	World Championship	2012	Dortmund	GER				1
CHN	World Championship	2011	Rotterdam	NED	Semifinals	gold
CHN	World Championship	2010	Moscow	RUS				1
CHN	World Championship	2009	Yokohama	JPN	Semifinals	silver
CHN	World Championship	2008	Guangzhou	CHN				1
CHN	World Championship	2007	Zagreb	HRV	last 16	last 16
CHN	World Championship	2006	Bremen	GER				1
CHN	Youth World Championship	2004	Kobe	JPN	gold	silver	silver	1
CHN	Youth World Championship	2003	Santiago	CHI	Quarter finals		silver	1
CHN	World cup	2019	Cheng you	CHN	4th Place
CHN	World cup	2017	Liege	BEL	3rd place
CHN	World cup	2015	Halmstad	SWE	gold
CHN	World cup	2014	Dusseldorf	GER	silver
CHN	World cup	2012	Liverpool	CLOSELY	gold
CHN	World cup	2009	Moscow	RUS	3rd place
CHN	World cup	2008	Liege	BEL	3rd place
CHN	WTC World Team Cup	2019	Tokyo	JPN				1
CHN	WTC World Team Cup	2018	London	CLOSELY				1
CHN	WTC World Team Cup	2015	Dubai	UAE				1
CHN	WTC World Team Cup	2013	Guangzhou	CHN				1
CHN	WTC World Team Cup	2011	Magdeburg	GER				1
CHN	WTC World Team Cup	2010	Dubai	UAE				1
CHN	WTC World Team Cup	2009	Linz	AUT				1
CHN	World Junior Circuit	2004	Taiyuan	CHN	Semifinals
CHN	World Junior Circuit	2003	Wellington	NZL	Semifinals

literature

• Henry James: Ma Long - The Chinese Shooting Star , table tennis magazine , 2005/10, pp. 26–27.

Web links

Commons : Ma Long  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Ma Long biography on the website of the World Table Tennis Federation ittf.com (accessed on August 5, 2011)
• Ma Long Article about Ma Long on the website of the World Table Tennis Association ittf.com (English)
• World rankings

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ma Long's world ranking over the last few years ( memento from October 31, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ ratingscentral.com - Match List (accessed August 12, 2016)
3. ↑ ittf.com - Match List ( Memento of the original dated August 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on August 12, 2016)  
4. ↑ olympic.org: Ma wins men's singles gold to complete career grand slam. August 11, 2016, accessed October 31, 2016 . 
5. ↑ Scandal: Liu Guoliang disempowered, players donate in protest. tt-news.de, accessed on June 24, 2017 . 
6. ^ Statements by Weikert and the Chinese Sports Administration. tt-news.de, accessed on June 24, 2017 . 
7. ↑ faz.net: Ovtcharov cheers - host China causes a scandal. June 25, 2017. Retrieved June 25, 2017 . 
8. ^ Ittf.com: Chinese Men's Team Withdrawn from Australian Open. June 29, 2017. Retrieved June 29, 2017 . 
9. ↑ ittf.com: ITTF Decides on Sanctions for Chinese Trio for China Open Forfeits. October 31, 2017, accessed October 31, 2017 . 
10. ↑ ittf.com: Ma Long makes historic repeat. September 7, 2017. Retrieved September 19, 2017 . 
11. ↑ RP ONLINE: Table tennis: Olympic champion Ma Long wins the final of the German Open. Retrieved March 29, 2018 . 
12. ↑ ITTF WORLD TOUR: Ma Long cancels Grand Finals. tt-news.de, accessed on December 9, 2018 . 
13. ↑ Gold: Boll and Franziska dismantle the world champion duo! mytischtennis.de, June 1, 2019, accessed on June 7, 2019 . 
14. ↑ World Cup: Fan Zhendong defends title, Ma Long only fourth. mytischtennis.de, December 1, 2019, accessed on December 4, 2019 . 
15. ↑ Grand Finals: Second gold for Fan Zhendong after winning the final against Ma Long. mytischtennis.de, December 15, 2019, accessed on March 7, 2020 . 
16. ↑ tischtennis magazine , 2004/12 pages 24–25
17. ↑ Ma Long results from the ITTF database on ittf.com (accessed June 15, 2014)

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Ma is the family name here, Long is the first name.