Ma Long
Ma Long was born in 1988 in Anshan, Liaoning Province. He started playing table tennis at the age of 5, from the age of 13 he began to train under the guidance of a coach, and later moved to study in Beijing.
In 2003, he joined the Chinese national team. In February 2007, he entered the top ten of the ITTF world ranking of players. For the first time he took the first position of the world ranking in January 2010. At the 2009, 2011 and 2013 World Championships, Ma Lun reached the 1/2 finals in the men’s singles. Together with Xu Xin, he won gold at the 2011 World Championship in doubles.
In the table tennis competition at the London 2012 Olympic Games, each country could be represented by three athletes, with a maximum of two in singles. Ma Long became one of the “victims” because of this restriction. At the time of the selection of Chinese athletes for the men’s singles tournament (May 2011), Ma Long was ranked 5th in the ITTF world rankings. Despite the fact that at the time of the men’s singles tournament of the 2012 Olympics, the athlete was ranked 2nd in the ITTF ranking, he was not allowed to participate in the men’s singles tournament. He became the Olympic champion in the team category. Winner of the World Cup 2012 in singles.
By August 2013, Ma Long had competed in 54 ITTF World Tour tournaments, 25 of which he reached the final stage of the competition, and 16 of which he became the winner. In 2009-10, he set a record of sorts by winning five World Tour tournaments in a row. Three times became the winner of the Grand Finals of the World Tour. He became the first player to win the Asian Singles Championship three times, while he became the Asian champion three times in a row – in 2009, 2012, 2013.
World champion in 2014 as part of the Chinese team.
At the 2015 Home World Championships held in Suzhou, he won the gold medal in singles. In the final, he outplayed his compatriot Fang Bo in six games, who, on the way to the final, beat the second racket of the world Xu Xin and the third number in the ranking, the 2012 Olympic champion and two-time world champion Zhang Jike.