Rio, August 12, 2016 – World champion, Ma Long of China is now an Olympic champion following his defeat of former Olympic Champion, Zhang Jike in the Men’s Singles at Rio 2016 Table tennis event with a commanding 4-0 trouncing of the former champion.
Zhang Jike, also a former Grand Slam winner, picked the gold medal in table tennis at the London 2012 Olympic but has to pass on the title to his fellow countryman, Ma Long in Rio. The bronze medal went to Jun Mizutani who beat Vladimir Samsonov (Belarus), as Japan won its first ever singles medal at an Olympic Games.
The brilliant performance of Ma Long only confirmed his rating in world tennis as an unbeatable champion, leaving the man seeded no 2(Zhang) with a silver medal. The first game of the final opened brightly as Ma and Zhang produced some fantastic rallies right from out of the blocks.
Ma made a positive start to the end and went 8-4 in front, but Zhang then began to grow into the game, winning a number of points with shots down the line from his backhand side to edge 8-9 ahead. Both competitors knew how important it was to take game one, and Ma did just that (14-12) to earn the early advantage. After the break Ma won the majority of the points to double his lead in games to 2-0 (11-5) and extended his lead (11-4) to move ever closer to Olympic glory.
Ma finished off his opponent in straight games (14-12, 11-5, 11-4, 11-4) to seal the gold medal for China.
“I played well throughout the match; the title is only possible with that high level of play. We both know each other very well, so it’s not a competition of skills, but more of mentality and psychology. For me, I’m not defending any title here, so I have less pressure on court. After winning, I’m still feeling calm. This moment, I think I have improved,” Ma Long said.
For Zhang, “The crucial part of the game lies in the first game, I was still slow in my reacting and weaker in rallies with my backhand. If I had won the first game, the whole match might have turned a different way. Ma Long’s skills are better than mine, no matter is it in his first three strokes, or changing between attacking and blocking. Congrats to him” he said.
