End of the Road for Ma Lin?

Matt Hetherington · Nov 4, 2011

http://matthetherington.blogspot.com/2011/11/end-of-road-for-ma-lin.html

Could it be the end of the road for China's superstar Ma Lin? Ranked 5th in the world he suffered his 3rd loss in just a couple of months to a European player, this time Kirill Skachkov of Russia. Is there still a place for Ma Lin in Chinese team or is his time coming to an end?

What do you think? I know there are a lot of Ma Lin fans out there

Wilco · Nov 4, 2011

I think its the end of a very great player.

Matt Hetherington · Nov 4, 2011

I agree unfortunately, I just don't see how they can look past those 3 losses

Dan · Nov 4, 2011

PingPongPom said:
I agree unfortunately, I just don't see how they can look past those 3 losses

Yeah true. The Chinese are very strict. Its strange because a few months back, Ma Lins performance was out of this World in the Chinese Super League.

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Michal_Z · Nov 4, 2011

Who knows..
Either its the end of Ma Lin, or he just has some personal problems that will past in some time..

But for now - with a good tactics, Ma Lin is quite easy to beat for he is a chinese player..

ttmonster · Nov 4, 2011

I think he is going through personal problems / some kind of injury because really pushed himself in the super league .. lets wait for 6 months and we will know ... I guess LGL also knows this that is why is protecting him by giving him chance in the 2nd singles and the doubles ... he knows Wang Hao and Ma Long will make up for it if it needs be so ...

Mr. RicharD · Nov 4, 2011

He never played Skachkov he lost to Quentin didn't he? Was there another tournament where he lost other than those two?

WiWa · Nov 4, 2011

Mr. RicharD said:
He never played Skachkov he lost to Quentin didn't he? Was there another tournament where he lost other than those two?

He lost to Liventsov earlier this year.

Mr. RicharD · Nov 4, 2011

Yeah that's what I was referring to. I hadn't seen the teams match with Ma vs Skatchkov. To be honest It's primarily the russian backhand. If you saw Alexei in the Euro Asia cup you can really see how superior their backhands are when playing someone who prefers to step around their own backhand. They're the only Europeans that have developed it far enough to outsmart Ma. So far he's the only one they're capable of doing it to. And if LGL has anything to say about it they'll be the last.

WiWa · Nov 4, 2011

Well I don't know if you can call it outsmart. It was pretty obvious in today's match that Skachkov played every ball that he got on the middle of the table wide to Ma's forehand using his backhand. Ma was always too late. The backhands from Skachkov weren't even that powerful. They were just all towards Ma's forehand, probably with a motion that Ma doesn't expect to bring it in his FH from time to time. But still it must be easy to adjust to after 1 game.

Matt Hetherington · Nov 4, 2011

Skachkov a very intelligent game though he's a great player, it just looked like Ma Lin wasn't reacting anywhere near as fast to the shots as he would have before

YosuaYosan · Nov 5, 2011

Dan said:
Yeah true. The Chinese are very strict. Its strange because a few months back, Ma Lins performance was out of this World in the Chinese Super League.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 using tapatalk

Dunno, maybe its the last bright flash before a bulb turns off forever ?

YosuaYosan · Nov 5, 2011

Very sad indeed.
Ma couldnt get his WTTC Singles for his grand slam.
Wang Liqin's been a bronze medallist in the last two Olympics.
Wang Hao is also the silver medallist from the last two Olympics.
Not to say Ma Long could crush Wang Liqin and Wang Hao to stop them getting their grand slams.

Dayum it seems sth is hindering the chineses to get a grand slam.

idolLong · Nov 5, 2011

Ma Lin is unpredictable. Just wait, he knows that he is losing. I know that right now, he is thinking of a way to turn his situation around. He can still shine

UpSideDownCarl · Nov 5, 2011

If you look closely he has gained a little weight and is slower. His reactions are not as good as they normally would be. He is missing balls he would not normally. I think he even gave away some free points on his serve as well where his serve did not get over the net. Not something that usually happens in his matches. It will be interesting to see if he can turn things around but he is not playing up to Ma Lin standards right now. And he was playing great from after the World Championships through till August.

zhong97 · Nov 5, 2011

Just you guys wait and see, i believe ma lin will make a comeback. Do you know for the past 10 years he had many downfall and when no people expected him to shine again, he amazed them with his sudden superb performances.

UpSideDownCarl · Nov 5, 2011

zhong97 said:
Just you guys wait and see, i believe ma lin will make a comeback. Do you know for the past 10 years he had many downfall and when no people expected him to shine again, he amazed them with his sudden superb performances.

I hope he can do it, but I also do think he can do it.

YosuaYosan · Nov 5, 2011

zhong97 said:
Just you guys wait and see, i believe ma lin will make a comeback. Do you know for the past 10 years he had many downfall and when no people expected him to shine again, he amazed them with his sudden superb performances.

I hope so.
I hope he can outsmart rather than outpower since his power is declining by age.

azlan · Nov 5, 2011

We need players like Ma Lin, the pro tours need players like him. But he's 32, the end is no doubt near. WLQ at 33 is another. To compete in the highest level, I would say another 2-3 years if he's injury free.

Bryce · Nov 5, 2011

Ma Lin's a great player. It's sad to see him performing badly...

End of the Road for Ma Lin?

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