Ma Long interviews, matches and beyond

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Practice match started at 8:8. Ma Long vs Lin Gaoyuan on Apr 2

FYI: To celebrate the upcoming 2018 World Table Tennis Day, we have a sweepstake on our Facebook page. The prize is the following 3 rare Ma Long stamps. Happy WTTD and good luck!
https://www.facebook.com/MaLongFamily/posts/854777681313475

MaLongFamily Fans Club said:

"The Mailman" Ma Long in 2017 table tennis stamps in various countries

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Happy 2018 WTTD! Check out our event for WTTD, the only event from China!
https://www.facebook.com/MaLongFamily/posts/856629487794961

How fast can you pick up table tennis balls with chopsticks and run past cones? That was one game that pupils of Hubei Xiapeng Primary School played to celebrate 2018 World Table Tennis Day. This event was held on Apr 4, planned by Malongfamily Fans Club and Captain_Long Fans Club, sponsored by SIGG and supported by Yangfan Project. Notably this is the only event from China registered for ITTF 2018 WTTD (TT4ALL.com).

Xiapeng Primary School is in Xiapeng Village, Mugang Town, Yangxin County, Huangshi City, Hubei Province, one of the contiguous destitute areas in China. The school was founded in 1957 and is currently located on a small hill, 25km away from the nearest town. Two teachers, Wu Yuanxiu and Huang Ziyi, volunteer to work here for 16 pupils (10 boys and 6 girls) in the first and second grade. With the help of government and non-profit organizations, the school has been renovated with newly built reading room, basketball court and table tennis room named after Ma Long.

Yangfan Project has been dedicated to provide educational resources for underprivileged children in rural areas of China since 2007. It is an important part of China Siyuan Foundation for Poverty Alleviation and run by Sina Yangfan Charity Foundation. On 2017 Feb 13, Captain_Long Fans Club and Yangfan Project initiated "Ma Long Fans Table Tennis Fund". Till 2018 Apr 2, "Ma Long Fans Table Tennis Fund" has raised 416986 CNY from 11254 donations. 402146 CNY has been spent to purchase 35337 sporting gears and 24 table tennis tables, which have been sent to 348 schools in need. A total of 121800 children have been reached!
Xiapeng Primary School is among the 348 schools that benefit from "Ma Long Fans Table Tennis Fund". Their first table tennis table arrived in Apr 2017. To celebrate Ma Long's 29th birthday, an old classroom was converted into a table tennis room named after Ma Long in Oct 2017. In Dec 2017, Ma Long fans together with SIGG sent Ma Long themed SIGG themo bottles to all the pupils and teachers of the school. SIGG continues the collaboration with Ma Long fans on donation and generously provides prizes for this 2018 WTTD event.



The event started with an introduction of WTTD and a review of Ma Long's achievements and records. Pupils also learned Ma Long's future goals on and off the court, his passion for table tennis and charity, and wishes and expectations of his fans. Later, pupils watched the highlights of Ma Long's matches and interviews. Then it was time for games. The first game was to go around a table and bounce a ball continuously as many times as one can. The winner was Huang Hongzhao who kept going for 4 minutes and bounced almost 200 times. The second game was to pick up 20 table tennis balls with chopsticks and run past three cones as fast as one can. Huang Zihuan made it in 50 seconds! The pupils were then divided into three teams. Each person in the team tried to toss as many balls as possible (up to 10) into the area on the other side of the table outlined by SIGG themo bottles. The winner team made 46. Lastly each team was given 10 minutes to make any drawing with table tennis balls. One team made a heart, another made letters "sigg" and the other made Ma Long 马龙 Official's name in Chinese.






Pupils enjoyed themselves during the event. They exhibited great focus, teamwork and fair play. Each winner received a Ma Long birthday themed SIGG Tritan bottle and other participants received SIGG mugs. They expressed their gratitude to Ma Long, Ma Long fans and SIGG and wished Ma Long “Jiayou!” (Go!) in the upcoming Team World Championships. The teachers were also inspired by this event and will plan similar event on International Children's Day to keep pupils enjoying table tennis. Ma Long once said, "Better oneself and inspire others". We are inspired by him and we are glad that more people, especially children in need, get inspired through our events.

Enjoy some laughter at our WTTD event.
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Have you watched 2018 ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup this weekend? Do you know Ma Long is the first 4-time Asian Cup holder? Let's take a look at his attendance at Asian Cup.
In Mar 2008, Ma Long attended Asian Cup for the first time. He beat Jun Mizutani, Yoon Jae Young and Tse Ka Chun in the group stage, Chuang Chih-Yuan in the quarterfinal, Gao Ning in the semifinal and Chen Qi in the final to claim his first continental champion.

In May 2009, Ma Long attended his second Asian Cup. He beat Kenji Matsudaira, Seo Hyun Deok and Mohammadreza Akhlaghpasand in the group stage, Tang Peng in the quarterfinal, Seiya Kishikawa in the semifinal, and Wang Hao in the final to successfully defend the title.

In Sep 2011, Ma Long attended Asian Cup for the third time. He beat Tang Peng, Yang Zi and Kazuhiro Chan in the group stage, Kim Min Seok in the quarterfinal, Gao Ning in the semifinal, and Xu Xin in the final. These added to his unprecedented long winning streak of 56 singles matches in 224 days.

In Mar 2014, Ma Long attended Asian Cup for the fourth time. He beat Jun Mizutani, Joo Sae Hyuk, and Kim Hyok Bong in the group stage, Kim Min Seok in the quarterfinal, Chen Chien-An in the semifinal, and Fan Zhendong in the final.

In addition to 4 Asian Cup titles, Ma Long won 3 consecutive Asian Championships singles champions and 1 Asian Games singles champion. He is the only Asian player who has ever won 8 singles champions at continental tournaments.

Only a few days left for closed training in preparation for World Team Championships. Warm up team match will be held on Apr 15-16.


Training on Apr 9

On Apr 12, China National Team had an open day to public and media in Xiaomen closed training camp. Coach Liu Guozheng worked with Ma Long on multiball training. It is said that since Coaches Qin Zhijian and Ma Lin left National Team in Jan 2018, Ma Long did not have a personal coach. Coach Liu Guozheng seemed to be Ma Long's personal coach at the moment and also the head of coach group in substitution of Coach Wu Jingping, although no official announcement has been made.

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In Apr Issue of Table Tennis World Magazine, Ma Long answered questions about Team World Cup. Coach Liu Guozheng also reviewed Ma Long's performance at 2018 Team World Cup in London.


Ma Long played 4 doubles sets and 4 singles sets out of 5 matches at 2018 Team World Cup and only lost 1 game in the final. With formidable form, he assured the victory of Team China.
Q: What do you think of the new format of team playing system?
A: This is the first time we played the new format. We were not familiar with it and I feel other associations also experimented during the tournament. The new format has changed significantly. In the old Olympic format, doubles players can be adjusted after two singles sets, which is more flexible. In the new format, the order of play is fixed before the match and I know from the beginning who I will play against.
In this tournament, I made most preparations for the doubles in the first set. Doubles requires teamwork and synergy of two players. After the doubles, it was a little tiring to make another preparation for the singles. When I played Olympic Team event, I usually played singles first. It was much relaxing to play doubles after winning the singles; on the other hand, it was more stressful to play doubles after losing the singles. So I don't think the change of format make the match harder or easier. With the new format, I think many teams will switch the second best and third best players, to put the second best in the third set.


Q: Did you meet any difficulties during the tournament?
A: There were two fire alarms in the hotel during the night before the final. I woke up with a start; it was terrifying. Later I slept with earplugs. After breakfast at 9 am on the final day, I could not take a nap as I was a little anxious about the final. We played quite smoothly in the doubles. While I had some hard time playing Koki Niwa in the singles. He is not comfortable to play with for many players. I had prepared for that and it was acceptable not playing smoothly.


Q: Which match surprised you?
A: The semifinal between Korea and Japan. In the deciding game of deciding set, Jeong Sangeun led 10:6 but still lost to Jin Ueda. It was quite surprising. We were watching that match because we wanted to know who was our opponent in the final.


Q: Which opponent(s) impressed you most?
A: Tomokazu Harimoto played many matches this time; I paid close attention to him. For individual events, I mainly focused on my own game while for team events, I watched how our opponents performed. Jin Ueda used to play international tournaments a lot but he was absent for a while. I feel he made some improvements this time.
I always think England's Liam Pitchford is quite characteristic. I played with him at Rio Olympic Games. It was a tight match, especially during the last 2 games, I was trailing and uncomfortable with his style. He also performed well at 2016 World Team Championships against Team Japan, although not winning at last. He is of good level. He gave Fan Zhendong some hard time in this tournament.


Q: Which game of your teammates made you worried most?
A: Fan Zhendong vs. Liam Pitchford. Whoever played with Liam Pitchford would not feel easy.


Q: What was the best thing you did in the tournament?
A: As usual, I took the matches seriously. I wanted to play well at Team World Cup and scored for China. I think the best thing I did was trying my best.


Q: What is your most memorable thing in all Team World Cup that you attended?
A: The match that I lost at 2010 Team World Cup. I was in terrible shape during that time and did not perform well during the whole tournament. My first match of the tournament was against Japan's Kazuhiro Chan and I lost by 0-3. That was a huge shock for me. I was resigned to the defeat to Timo Boll at 2010 Team World Championships but I could not accept the defeat at 2010 Team World Cup.


Q: What is your future plans and new expectations for yourself?
A: I want to maintain my form, and at the same time I want to give myself a break. I sensed pressure in this tournament. When I was 20 years old, I had pressure when I played but my motivation was greater than pressure. Now I have pressure but my motivation is not as great as before. I need to adjust my mindset, to put it bluntly, I need to give myself room for errors and mistakes. I will have some new plans in the following training and tournaments.


Liu Guozheng said, "Ma Long is the backbone of the team on and off the court. Our team was at crisis; he stood out and led the team to win the first team champion in 2018. What he did great in this tournament was being motivated for every match. I think his training and preparations before the match were comparable to what he did for World Championships or Olympic Games. His every moves showed how serious and devoted he was for the preparations and matches. He set good example to other players in the team and really pulled everyone together. On the court, he tried all variations and fought for every point. At the beginning, his form was not great because he did not play international tournament for a while and did not find the feelings of big tournament. Later on, Ma Long gradually found his form and focus and played better and better. In the final, I think he had good rhythm and performed very confidently and well.
In this tournament, Ma Long played many doubles sets. This is based on many factors. On one hand, we wanted to motivate him and let him motivate and unite the team. On the other hand, we took the new format of team playing system and the possible fixture of our opponents into consideration. The pair of Ma Long and Xu Xin is the most familiar pair in the team. They are confident and comfortable on the court. Therefore, we often made them play the first set to make a good start.
Doubles set is rather crucial with the new format of playing system. Previously, the team usually sent Ma Long to play first singles because he can start quickly to establish advantage. This time, the first set is doubles, which requires a quick start of two players. So we sent Ma Long and Xu Xin to open up the game, and then we arranged players for the singles sets."

Last June, Coach Zhang Lei already spotted the problem of Ma Long in face of the new ball and suggested solutions. However, his plan to discuss with Coaches Liu Guoliang, Qin Zhijian and Ma Lin to work out a full schedule during China Open was not fulfilled. It may take some time for Ma Long to plan the training routine with his new coach, whether being Coach Liu Guozheng or someone else.

https://www.facebook.com/MaLongFamily/posts/676282332496345

MaLongFamily Fans Club said:

Improvements needed for Tokyo
Right after Düsseldorf, while Ma Long will play Japan Open and China Open, Zhang Lei is making a new plan. “I am thinking of a question: how shall Ma Long improve? After the final of WTTC, he told me that he suddenly felt a drop in energy and focus after leading 3-1. The drop resulted in losing the next two sets. He could have won by 4-1 if it were one year ago. Not only the physical strengths and focus were affected, his footwork was no longer continuous.”
Ma Long is approaching 29. It is not easy to keep the current level; however, he has to keep improving to be competitive because of the challenge from young teammates. Zhang Lei said Ma Long is getting along well with his new coach Ma Lin and he is working with the coaches of the National Team to find solutions to accelerate Ma Long. ”The new ball has way less spins. The speed increases and so does the randomness of the game. Ma Long has to improve his physical strengths and footwork. Be faster before the energy drops.” Zhang Lei will go to Chengdu and meet Liu Guoliang, Qin Zhijian and Ma Lin during China Open next week. “We need to work out a full schedule, including physical training and recovery.” Next Zhang Lei and Team Beijing will prepare for the National Games.

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On Apr 14, Ma Long left Xiamen and started training in Huangshi.



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On Apr 15, team of Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin will play against team of Fang Bo, Yan An and Xia Yizheng. The winner will face the winner between team of Lin Gaoyuan, Wang Chuqin and Xue Fei, and team of Liang Jingkun, Zhou Yu and Xu Chenhao on Apr 16.

On Apr 15, team of Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin beat team of Fang Bo, Yan An and Xia Yizheng by 3-0. They will face team of Liang Jingkun, Zhou Yu and Xu Chenhao on Apr 16.
In the first set, Xu Xin beat Fang Bo by 3-0 (11:8 11:9, 12:10). In the second set, Fan Zhendong beat Yan An by 3-1 (12:14, 11:2, 11:8, 11:2). In the third set, Ma Long beat Xia Yizheng by 3-1 (12:10, 6:11, 11:8 11:6).
In the post-match interview, Ma Long said, he was not quite familiar with Xia Yizhing's style, as this 25-year-old was recruited to National Team recently. He was a little slow to get started in the first two games but became more focused in the last two games. He will try to be more focused in tomorrow's match.





On Apr 16, team of Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin beat team of Liang Jingkun, Zhou Yu and Xu Chenhao by 3-1 and won the warm-up tournament for 2018 WTTTC.
In the first set, Fan Zhendong beat Zhou Yu by 3-1 (7:11, 12:10, 11:9, 11:8). In the second set, Xu Xin lost to Liang Jingkun by 1-3 (2:11, 5:11, 11:8, 8:11). In the third set, Ma Long beat Xu Chenhao by 3-1 (4:11, 11:9, 11:9, 11:6). In the fourth set, Fan Zhendong defeated Liang Jingkun by 3-2 (13:11, 10:12, 11:4, 8:11, 11:7).
In the post-match interview, Ma Long said, he performed better than yesterday, more focused and motivated. Xu Chenhao was on fire and led in every game, but he stayed postive and fought one point after another. He was satisfied with his strong will to win today.
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Our WTTD event was covered by ITTF news!


https://www.ittf.com/2018/04/16/world-table-tennis-day-ma-longs-fan-club-unites-good-cause/
World Table Tennis Day: Ma Long’s Fan Club unites for good cause
16 Apr 2018
by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager
Now well over a decade ago, in 2005 a group of table tennis enthusiasts were captivated by the performances of a 17 year old, the name was Ma Long and what is now one of the biggest fan clubs in the sport of table tennis was formed.
The club supports the Chinese star on his world travels, being present when winning gold at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and when being crowned World champion.
However, in addition they have supported Ma Long in efforts to help good causes.
Notably, since 2009 the club has raised funds and donated 27 table tennis tables to 22 schools and institutes in need. It has built two table tennis halls named after Ma Long.
One of these rooms is at the Xiapeng Primary School, located in Xiapeng Village, Hubei Province; it is one of the most destitute areas in China. The school was chosen to celebrate 2018 World Table Tennis Day; overall 16 pupils, 10 boys and six girls attended the day organised by the Ma Long Family Fans Club and Captain Long Fans Club The efforts were supported by SIGG and the Yangfan Project.
“Better oneself and inspire others.” Ma Long
The event started with an introduction to World Table Tennis Day and a review of Ma Long’s achievements. Children also learned about his future goals on and off the table. They learned about his passion for table tennis and charity; also they learned about the hopes of his fans.
Introductions over; it was time to play.
Picking balls with chopsticks, moving around a table and bouncing a ball continuously were amongst the contests in which the children participated. Lastly pupils made drawings of table tennis balls; of course, Ma Long’s name in Chinese was included.
All the pupils enjoyed themselves during the event. They exhibited great focus, teamwork and fair play; all participants received gifts from sponsors. They expressed their gratitude to the Ma Long fans and wished Ma Long good luck for the forthcoming Liebherr 2018 World Team Table Championships.
Most importantly every child was inspired.

Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA) announced their internal ranking of Chinese players on Apr 18. In the first quarter of 2018, Ma Long is ranked #1 of 10350 points, with his World Champion, China National Games Champion and others titles in the past 12 months. International, national tournaments and Super League results are included in CTTA ranking.

Top 10 of men's ranking

1 Ma Long 10350
2 Fan Zhendong 10250
3 Xu Xin 8325
4 Lin Gaoyuan 7764
5 Fang Bo 6355
6 Wang Chuqin 5910
7 Yan An 5790
8 Zhou Yu 5559
9 Liu Dingshuo 5290
10 Liang Jingkun 5168

Check out Ma Long's match highlights and post-match interviews in Warm-up Tournament for the upcoming WTTTC.

(How do you prepare for this WTTTC?)
Although I have attended preparations for WTTTC for many times, the aim and format are different depending on my positions in the team at different time period. I may have different mindsets for each WTTTC. But for preparations, I regard every time as my first time. The opponents and arena are new each time. There are many uncertain factors. So I prepare seriously as if it were my first WTTTC.

(Can you talk about Coach Liu Guozheng?)
There are some changes in coach group. Now he pays more attention to me and I try to communicate more with him. He is our coach for this WTTTC. We want to know each other better and communicate better during the tournament.


(You said Timo Boll is your new role model. Do you mean your next goal is not 2020 Olympic Games, maybe after that? Do you want to be an evergreen of China table tennis?)
I admired Timo Boll as he can extend his athletic career.
I think 2020 Olympic Games are the most important tournament. Other tournaments afterwards are not the current focus. I may continue to play after 2020. But whether I will attend 2020 Olympic Games and later WTTC competitively is not certain.
I love to play that's why I keep going. Right now WTTTC is the top priority and first things first.

On Apr 21, China National Team left Beijing for Sweden.

As usual, they took group photo in team jersey in front of their dorms of the National Training Center.



Men's team includes team delegate Huang Biao, coaches Liu Guozheng, Wang Hao and Wu Jingping, players Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Xu Xin, Lin Gaoyuan and Wang Chuqin, practice partners Fang Bo, Yan An and Zhou Qihao.



This is Ma Long's 7th World Team Championships. He said he and the whole team will try their best to bring the trophies back.

Then they changed to more casual clothes for the trip. According to Stiga, they have arrived in Sweden safe and sound.
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(The old lady is a retired team doctor who keeps seeing China National Team off for every major tournament.)