On February 20, Beijing time, the Beijing Winter Olympics officially came to an end. Although the table tennis players did not have the opportunity to participate, the enthusiasm of everyone to appreciate the sports competition and cheer for the national team athletes continued unabated. On the night of the closing of the Winter Olympics, Ma Long, the captain of the National Table Tennis Grand Slam, posted late at night praising the dedication and greatness of his sports peers.
It is worth mentioning that Malone said bluntly: "These people are not necessarily young people but many are veterans, regardless of age on the road to chasing their dreams." This passage can't help but make people think: How long will Malone, who will turn 33 this year, stay on the field? At the 2024 Paris Olympics, can he play again?
Born in 1988, Ma Long is a great legend in the table tennis world, and he has won the World Table Tennis Team Championship with the team as early as 2006, and it has been eighteen years since then.
During this period, Ma Long witnessed the end of the careers of his predecessors Kong Linghui, Wang Liqin, Ma Lin, Wang Hao and others, and also experienced the rise of his peers Zhang Jike, Xu Xin and others, and also watched the younger generations of Fan Zhendong, Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan, Wang Chuqin and others grow up to take on heavy responsibilities, and are veritable "evergreen" figures of the Chinese team.
After the end of the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, Ma Long began to gradually fade out of the field: first withdrew from the men's singles event of the National Games, and did not have the opportunity to impact the record of 3 consecutive championships; then together with Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen, he completely gave up participating in the World Table Tennis Championships and failed to impact the great cause of the men's singles 4 consecutive championships.
But just when everyone thought That Malone was about to retire, he quickly made a high-profile participation in the 2022 WTT Macau Tournament, and then appeared in the list of the first WTT Grand Slams – it is clear that Malone does not want to end his career, as he said: on the road to chasing his dreams regardless of age!
However, although the publicity of the WTT Grand Slam is very strong, the position in the hearts of most fans still needs time to be tested, so many people believe that if Malone cannot participate in traditional competitions such as the Olympic Games and the World Table Tennis Championships, but only active in commercial events, it will not be a complete continuation of his career.
But since Ma Long has given up a World Table Tennis Championships, it is entirely possible to give up more World Series "one after another", no wonder some netizens will sigh: The Paris Olympic Games, veterans may collectively end the curtain!
At present, it seems that It is indeed not easy for Malone to fight in the Olympic Games again:
On the one hand, his own age is already very old, the physical condition will definitely continue to decline, even if the national table tennis gives the opportunity, whether he can grasp it is also in doubt; on the other hand, the coaching team's determination to promote the replacement of the new and old of the whole team is very large, and the future will put more energy on young people, like cultivating Malone in the past to train his juniors, Malone's chances will definitely be reduced.
As a result, the team World Table Tennis Championships in April this year has become the focus of everyone's attention.
If Ma Long can continue to appear in the list of the team World Table Tennis Championships, it means that Liu Guoliang and the coaching staff still regard him as the core figure of the team, at least hoping that he will "lead the new with the old"; but if Ma Long continues to withdraw from last year's individual World Table Tennis Championships and this year's team World Table Tennis Championships competition, then the possibility of returning to the World Series is very small.
Of course, Malone is doing nothing now, and it will be difficult for others to catch up with his results, but fans will definitely want to see more records born. Regardless of whether Malone can return to the Olympic arena in the future, at least we can be sure of one thing now, that is, his legend has not yet ended! Let's wait for the chengdu team world table tennis championships list to be released!