Ma Long will not play singles

[TableTennisDaily]

After a lot of speculation whether Ma Long will play in the Singles of the London 2012 Olympics is finally here.

Photo by: Kiyoshi Ota / Getty Images

It's official, Zhang Jike and Wang Hao will represent China in the singles event at the London 2012 Olympics. Ma Long will join them both in the team event.

Full article here

 

[ttmedari]

Ma Long should be disappointed, yet he still has some chances for the next olympics

 

[raga4ka]

Interesting that they kept Zhang Jike and Wang Hao from last year , but in the women team they switched Gue Yan with Ding Ning . They said that Gue Yan was injured , but she still dominated in the WTTTC .

 

[Michal_Z]

In my opinion this is stupid decision..
Ma Long tryed so hard, then one loss to Koki Niwa and he is out..
How many times Zhang lost?

Ok ok .. they have their brain and I think this was not a good idea..
I hope Timo wins it!

 

[Tricon7]

It's hard to believe that your team has the #1 player in the world and you're benching him for singles(!) After all, he didn't get to #1 by losing. I think he should have replaced Wang Hao, big wins or no.

 

[Dan]

Nice points covered, I believe the decision in making Ma Long play team event boosts Timo Boll's chances dramatically in the singles!

Timo Boll vs Zhang Jike or Wang Hao are 50/50 I think..

 

[paras.oriental]

What is This Man.......... :'(

The most deserving , and Challenging Player held as Currently WR 1 will not play in olypics Singles... WTF!!!!!!!!!

 

[azlil]

For my point of views, i think Liu Guoliang did not put Ma Long in single events because he looks Ma long performances in World Cup and World Championship.Event though Ma Long performances very outstanding in both events but it stills cannot capture Liu's eye.For me,Liu's has a little bit of concern on Zhang Jike even though Ma Long also good as him.

 

[JustAlt]

How about the fact that if they had replaced Wang Hao or Zhang Jike by saying they're sick or injured they couldn't have played in teams either? There was conversation about this in another thread but it seems to be completely ignored here.

 

[banano354]

its imposible

Its imposible that Ma Long wont play in the singles event because he is now the best player of the world and he is in his best performance.

Its not the same win the team avent than win the singles event. Its ridiculous that ma long wont play in the singles event.

 

[Michal_Z]

After this decision, China deserves to lose the battle for men singles olympic gold!

 

[WiWa]

How about the fact that if they had replaced Wang Hao or Zhang Jike by saying they're sick or injured they couldn't have played in teams either? There was conversation about this in another thread but it seems to be completely ignored here.

I absolutely agree with this. It's been mentioned clearly, but people's affection to Ma Long seems to be stronger than their ability to recall this information There is no reason to kick Wang Hao or Zhang Jike from the Olympic team, since they have met all the requirements in the past years. Ma Long hasn't, and there are only two spots, so he is out of the Singles. That's the situation, and given the situation, I think this is a fair choice. What isn't fair is that there are only two spots per country, but China has no influence on that. So their choice is justified. But the ITTF (under the pressure of table tennis being kicked from the Olympics) made this restriction. It is sad, but I don't think you can blame anyone in the table tennis world for this.

Well, maybe Ma Long. He could've just won the WTTC and avoid the fuss...

 

[lucaminuti]

I think that this is because Liu Guoliang is lop sided and is favouring wang hoa over ma long as when wang hao encountered zhang jike in the last year, zhang jike won most the encounters and Liu Guoliang may be thinking that if he comes against wang oa in the final, zhang jike would win gold london.

 

[lucaminuti]

It's hard to believe that your team has the #1 player in the world and you're benching him for singles(!) After all, he didn't get to #1 by losing. I think he should have replaced Wang Hao, big wins or no.

on the other had wang hao has a lot more experience as he played in two Olympics and ans even has 2 silvers in the singles.

 

[exit_2]

i think its time for Ma Long leave china.. It is shame. World No. 1 will not play? They are kiding?

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

How about the fact that if they had replaced Wang Hao or Zhang Jike by saying they're sick or injured they couldn't have played in teams either? There was conversation about this in another thread but it seems to be completely ignored here.

This post is accurate. Most of you are missing the fact that,

Wang Hao and Zhang Jike qualified for the singles event.

Ma Long did not.

If Liu Gouliang replaced Zhang Jike or Wang Hao with Ma Long, then China would not be able to play in the team event. Ma Long has known for a long time that he would not play in the singles event.

The shame here is that, China is so dominant that, if they sent more than 2 players they would probably win all available medals which the Olympic committee does not want. This is why they threatened to take Table Tennis out of the Olympics. The ITTF did what they thought was the best thing for the sport by changing how people qualify and how many people can qualify for the singles and the team event.

The real issue, the big problem with the qualification process is that, Wang Hao and Zhang Jike qualified for the singles event in the Olympics based on their rankings in May of 2011. If they used the rankings of say, March or April of 2012, things would be different.

Liu Gouliang did not have much choice in the matter. To put Ma Long in would mean that he has to take someone else out and he has to abandon the idea of even competing in the team event. That would not be a good choice.

 

[YosuaYosan]

Then it would be a grand slam contest!
Go Zhang Jike and Wang Hao!

and to clear things up, as said by some, the qualification is not solely based on the 2012 Asian Olympic Qualification but the rankings and performance from the past year (which is rather odd for a qualification system)..

It is pretty much obvious for quite some time though that Zhang Jike and Wang Hao will play singles and Ma Long will accompany them to play team..

 

[nabilatouni]

WHAAAAAAT! I'm upset about this news... What is wrong with the Chinese?
I will prefer to see Ma Long playing the singles rather than Wang Hao...
I really don't understand this decision I mean it's obvious that Ma Long played really well at every tournament this year; but maybe LGL still think that he won't be able to handle the pressure that Olympics Games recquired is not yet satisfied with his performances or maybe (and still think that!) he prefer Wang Hao!

GO ZHANG JIKE!!

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

WHAAAAAAT! I'm upset about this news... What is wrong with the Chinese?
I will prefer to see Ma Long playing the singles rather than Wang Hao...
I really don't understand this decision I mean it's obvious that Ma Long played really well at every tournament this year; but maybe LGL still think that he won't be able to handle the pressure that Olympics Games recquired is not yet satisfied with his performances or maybe (and still think that!) he prefer Wang Hao!

GO ZHANG JIKE!!

You should read the posts. Liu Gouliang did not have a choice. Ma Long did not qualify to play the singles. Wang Hao and Zhang Jike did. If Liu Gouliang pulled one of those two out so that Ma Long could play in the singles, then China would forfeit its ability to play in the team event. I believe that is how things were.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

The real shame here is that the ITTF, trying to do its best with the reality of the situation, devised a system where, it was possible for the current #1 ranked player in the world not to qualify for the singles event.