Ma Long, Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen, the "Kitakami Hiroshi Trio", who returned to the international arena for the first time after the Tokyo Olympic Games, all won victories today. Liu Shiwen from Guangzhou won a one-day double victory and ushered in the opening of the women's singles and mixed doubles. Beijing's Ma Long and Shanghai's Xu Xin won both first in the men's singles arena to reach the quarterfinals, and Ma Long beat Houston World Table Tennis Championships men's singles bronze medalist Liang Jingkun 3-0 in tonight's finale.
The last time Malone stood on the international stage was at the Tokyo Olympics last August. He not only won the gold medal of the men's team with Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin, but also successfully defended his title in the men's singles event. After that, Ma Long participated in the men's team competition at the Shaanxi National Games and led the Beijing men's team to win a silver medal. As the reigning champions of the men's singles and men's doubles, Malone missed the Houston World Table Tennis Championships in November and did not participate in the subsequent World Cup final in Singapore. This is Malone's return to the men's singles international arena after 5 months.
Facing the powerful Liang Jingkun, Malone won 11-9, 13-11 and 11-6 to lock in a place in the quarterfinals. In the quarter-finals, Ma Long will play against Wang Chuqin, another young main player of national table tennis. A total of 16 players participated in the men's singles event of the Macau Championships, and the Chinese team sent 14 players to compete, Fan Zhendong was listed as the number one seed, and Ma Long was the second seed. The two have a good chance to stage a wonderful "dragon fat battle" in the final.
Malone said after the game that he had not participated in an international competition for a long time and was very happy to win, because he lost in the first round of the mixed doubles yesterday, and he was afraid of losing tonight in the men's singles, so he tried his best to win. For the opponent in the first round is Liang Jingkun, Ma Long revealed that he must take the lead in the opening to gain an advantage, and cannot wait for the opponent to fight. After winning the first two sets, the opponent's shots are within his calculations, so the mentality is better and the shots are more fluent.
After leaving the arena for a while, Malone admitted that he really missed the game, so many fans came to see him play, he hoped to play better and repay everyone's support. However, he did not dare to set goals for himself, he would only play one game after another, and no matter how many rounds he played, he would give his all.
Text/Guangzhou Daily, New Flower City Reporter: Yang Min
Photo: WTT World Table Tennis Federation
Guangzhou Daily New Flower City Editor: Du Juan
【Source: Guangzhou Daily】
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