Ma Long the "bad seed"?

PlasmaLight · Mar 28, 2012

hey guys,

i often wondered, why liu guoliang often has to discuss about ma long. for example the upcoming olympics. he is the best player at the moment with an unbelievable power. but it seems, that even ma lin - who played very bad the last year - has a better chance to join the olympics then ma long. of course there is the fact, that ma long didnt won a major title yet, but i think, that liu guoliang doesnt like ma long very much.
for example: on every article at tabletennista you can read a lot good stuff about zhang jike and the other players, even when they fail. but the nicest word liu guoliang found about ma long, was, that "ma long has the potential" to be a good player. WTF??? ... and yesterday against sweden ma long had the best performance against karlsson and liu guoliang didnt spent applaus, when ma long won ... oO ... and then ma long came to his team with a smile but then he was roasted by liu guoliang ... cant understand that.

what do you think?

JustAlt · Mar 28, 2012

I think I just don't get what you're saying. Roasted by Liu Guoliang after winning? After the match Liu had a smile on his face even when he was coaching Ma Long. I am more under the impression that he doesn't like Zhang Jike that much.

Bollforte94 · Mar 28, 2012

yeah I just hope a chinese will fail, then Ma Long has at least the third place.
We know that Ma Long is the best, he does not need to win Olympia to show us that fact. I already know who is the king on the table

I saw this too. Ma Long goes with a smile to the China Team and shakes hands with Ma Lin and Liu. Then Liu starts talking and Ma Longs smile disappeared.

PlasmaLight · Mar 28, 2012

JustAlt said:
I think I just don't get what you're saying. Roasted by Liu Guoliang after winning? After the match Liu had a smile on his face even when he was coaching Ma Long. I am more under the impression that he doesn't like Zhang Jike that much.

watch the end of ma longs game

as bollforte said. ma long smiling and then starts the roast

Bollforte94 · Mar 28, 2012

JustAlt, please watch the end of the match on itTV, TTPoster forget the scene in his highlight video!

JustAlt · Mar 28, 2012

I have seen the end of the match and I was talking about it already. First Liu is smiling too, then he starts coaching and Ma Long doesn't smile anymore because he listens carefully what his coach is telling him. I don't get it why do you make a big deal about normal after-match coaching. It seems that Liu Guoliang has a hint of a smile on his face while coaching too. In fact I think Ma Long started smiling because the whole team was when he returned from the table.

PlasmaLight · Mar 28, 2012

then why liu didnt talked to zhang jike or ma lin after the match?

azlan · Mar 28, 2012

I think I know why....I think Liu can see the great potential in Ma Long, not just being the world champion, but the best ever in table tennis history. He doesn't see that in ZJK. So even if Ma Long wins, LGL will point out those minor mistakes that he did, the mistakes that any other player in the world (incl. ZJK) can get away with..but not Ma Long. He wants Ma Long to be clinical in every shot he makes, and annihilate his opponents to the pulp

rooklynbounce · Mar 28, 2012

Smiling is not the same in chinese culture. You use your eyes a lot more and the mouth a lot less. I think I read something about this?

http://www.brighthub.com/office/project-management/articles/85141.aspx for instance

rooklynbounce · Mar 28, 2012

http://www.physorg.com/news169385578.html

PlasmaLight · Mar 28, 2012

azlan said:
I think I know why....I think Liu can see the great potential in Ma Long, not just being the world champion, but the best ever in table tennis history. He doesn't see that in ZJK. So even if Ma Long wins, LGL will point out those minor mistakes that he did, the mistakes that any other player in the world (incl. ZJK) can get away with..but not Ma Long. He wants Ma Long to be clinical in every shot he makes, and annihilate his opponents to the pulp

yeah can imagine that. but then he should let him play the olympics and not discuss about that ^^

azlan · Mar 28, 2012

Hahahaha...that's true Plasma. Your nick should be "Plasma Blaster"..hehehe

Kevzar · Mar 28, 2012

I read somewhere that this tournament is the last chance for Ma Lin/Ma Long/Xu Xin to be considered for a 3rd olympic spot or something. I'm just guessing that this is Ma Lin's last chance to participate in the Olympics and hence LGL could be kind of rooting for him to be in good form, also Ma Lin is the oldest of the three. LGL might think that Ma Long and Xu Xin have plenty of time to dominate afterwards and let Ma Lin get his last big opportunity.

WiWa · Mar 28, 2012

I don't think LGL has a favourite. He is been pretty critical on ZJK as well. People are just underestimating the fact that he hasn't won majors. Ma Long's big issue remains if he can handle real pressure. 6 consecutive Pro Tour victories don't change that. It doesn't have to do with LGL's personal preferences, but with his experience. He knows that results in minor tournaments give no guarantee at all for the real deal matches. Ma Long has been the living example of that in the past years, and he has to change that in order to become a main figure in World and Olympic tournaments.

About TableTennisTa.com, I always have the feeling that they themselves are pro-ZJK. So it maybe has more to do with them than with the actual things LGL said or brought in the media. Maybe the people at TableTennisTa.com don't like Ma long much for some reason? Idk. But LGL seems a very sensible guy to me. I think he is very capable of making independent decisions, like the Chinese did with ZJK when he got kicked off the team even though he was one of their best players.

PlasmaLight · Mar 28, 2012

yeah well whats better? a ma lin who loses in the first rounds of each tournement or a ma long that wins every tournement?

i mean mental power is a question of training. they didnt worked on that in the past. now they did and as we can see, ma long plays on a higher level than everyone else. if he doesnt get the spot now, he will not get it when the next olympics come, because of the same reason. he will never win, when he never plays

and he never played the olympic games

TTANKEY · Mar 28, 2012

Hey, my coach is just like liu guoliang. I have never seen liu guoliang applausing ma long

Mr. RicharD · Mar 29, 2012

It's actually very logical on Liu's part. Sure he has some favorites, but that's because he knows the older players best. When it comes to the major titles Wang Hao and Ma Lin have the most experience and are the most successful. It doesn't matter how many titles you own and what your ranking is, what matters to Liu is who is most calm in the toughest matches. Ma Long is a great player and does have the potential to be another or the next Grand Slam winner (depending on Wang Hao), but as of now I too would go with the veteran players and maybe Zhang Jike. The problem however is that Zhang hasn't been showing much promise with his mentality. Having won his first two major titles was an amazing feat, but for something as large and huge as the Olympics he may not have what it takes to take the gold. What is most important when Liu makes a decision is mentality, but frankly they all are physically equal if not superior to every player out there. Mentality is what makes champions not skill or talent. I have a feeling that Ma Long may still get his chance at the Olympics seeing as Zhang has really shown some poor mental strength.

WiWa · Mar 29, 2012

PlasmaLight said:
yeah well whats better? a ma lin who loses in the first rounds of each tournement or a ma long that wins every tournement? i mean mental power is a question of training. they didnt worked on that in the past. now they did and as we can see, ma long plays on a higher level than everyone else. if he doesnt get the spot now, he will not get it when the next olympics come, because of the same reason. he will never win, when he never plays and he never played the olympic games

Ma Lin peaks at big tournaments, Ma Long doesn't. That is the entire point. But here in Dortmund Ma Long gets his so much-th chance to prove that he can peak in big tournaments. You imply that he never gets a chance to play, which is not true. He has played 1 or 2 (not sure) World Cup singles, this is his or 4th World Team Champs, and he has played 2 or 3 (not sure) World Singles Champs as well. However up till now, he hasn't proven himself in any of them. Is it weird that Liu is not convinced about him? If you are as good as Ma Long, you should win those, and not choke. I agree that he has grown and I think that he can win big titles now, but he has to prove it to LGL in Dortmund in the later stages of the tournament.

judah000 · Mar 29, 2012

Then I would blame LGL if the chinese fail to achieve the gold medal this olympics!!!! hahaahah

JOKe

nabilatouni · Mar 29, 2012

Yeah exactly, to LGL Ma Long is problably the best player in the world but because he hasn't won a major tournament, LGL still thinks that ML has a lot of thinks to do to prove that he's a Master lol I don't think that it is something to do with who LGL prefer... At the stage, LGL don't know which player will join Zhang Jike and Wang Hao that's why Ma Long and Ma Lin have to be irreprochable and prove they can win a ticket.
But I don't understand the fact that Ma Lin has to go to the Olympics because he's the oldest. I mean everyone respect him and it is totally comprehensible but he has to win his place by his performances not because he's the oldest!!

Ma Long the "bad seed"?

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