Ma Long won the ‘UFC table tennis’ champion

After defeating Phan Chan Dong in the final ITTF Finals 2020, Ma Long’s fruit was praised by legendary Luu Quoc Luong. He said that the number two player in the world is increasingly improving his technique. Wrist surgery at the end of 2019 almost no longer leaves any sequelae when kicking forte.

In the final of WTT Macao 2020 on the evening of November 29, Ma Long reinforced the comment of Mr. Luu’s teacher. After returning from a one-minute time-out break, the country tennis player Liaoning took the left exactly, sent the ball to the edge of the table and did not give Wang So Kham a chance to defend. He took a 10-8 lead in set 6 and won the championship the next point, when his juniors hit the ball out.

That was not the first time Ma Long pulled left in struggling situations in the match. Previously, in set 5, when leading 10-9 only one point away from the title, Ma also jerked left, but sent the ball out. According to the WTT Macao 2020 rules, the sets from one to eight in the finals do not use a two-point rule, but Ma Long continues to jerk left on the next ball. Although the ball went out and the 32-year-old lost his set, Ma showed confidence in the technique that was once seen as his limitation.

Two sets five and six were also the most intense times of the final, because all four sets, Ma Long was completely overwhelmed. He won 11-5, 11-9, 11-4 and 11-5, although in three encounters he lost two and won only one match.

Between Ma Long and Vuong So Kham is a close brotherhood. When he was recruited, Vuong often shared a room with his seniors and heard Ma share many experiences in planning training, fitness training, therapy, as well as video surgery. Both were the World Championship men’s doubles 2019.

Different from the care of his seniors, Vuong resembles the number one rival in Ma Long’s career – Truong Ke Khoa – in rebellion. In November 2019, he smashed his racket and did not shake his opponent’s hand after losing in the Austrian Open. The Chinese Football Federation banned Wang from playing for three months, until February 2020. After the internal Warm-up tournament, WTT Macao 2020 is the second biggest prize that Vuong has attended after the suspension of the racquet.

Ma Long is the first country tennis player, also the last Wang confronts at WTT Macao 2020. Before that, he eliminated Wong Chun-ting, fourth seed Hugo Calderano, and Mattias Falck – who defeated Hua Hua in the fourth quarter. conclusion.

WTT Macao has been actively promoted by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) since the beginning of 2020, with the highlight of the field and the different rules of the game. With an octagonal design, the main orange tone, every time players go to the field, players will feel like they are entering the UFC arena.

In terms of competition rules, WTT Macao is more fierce than traditional tournaments. From qualifying to the quarterfinals, players hit the 5-set winning 3 format, of which only set 5 applies the 2-point rule. In the previous sets, the player who came to the first 11 wins. In the semi-finals, the format is changed to 7 sets to win 4, and the final to 9 sets to win 5.

The four seeded players were eligible for the straight to the quarterfinals, but were not given the first two days of play and played a small tournament between the four. Seed number one meets seed number four, seed number two meets seed number three. The two winners meet to find “Seed 1”, the two losers meet to choose “Seed 3”. Seed 1 has the privilege of choosing which opponents will meet in the quarterfinals. Seed 2, 3 and 4 must be selected from the rest.

WTT Macao soon brought surprises from the quarterfinals. Hua Han is the number one seed before the prize, also the “Seed 1” after the internal prize between four seeds. But in the quarterfinals, the opponent he chose – Mattias Falck – played up copper and won him 3-1. Ma Long, seed number two, also struggled to surpass Jeoung Young-sik. Vuong So Kham himself, the player in the final, was not the top 4 seed before the tournament.

Thang Nguyen