On the evening of April 20, Beijing time, the table tennis Macau World Cup ushered in a focus battle, the two main forces of national table tennis Wang Chuqin and Ma Long met in the men's singles semifinals to compete for tickets to the final round.
Prior to this, Ma Long had won the World Cup men's singles gold medal twice in 2012 and 2015, and now he has entered the World Cup men's singles final again at the age of 35.
Highlights of the game
Wang Chuqin and Ma Long are teammates of the national table tennis and the Beijing team, and they know each other's roots, in the early years, Ma Long can be said to have grown up step by step with Wang Chuqin, and now the back waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves, Wang Chuqin has become the best teammate against Ma Long, and the last few encounters have completely gained the upper hand, so it is generally believed that he has a greater probability of getting promoted in this competition.
From a technical point of view, Wang Chuqin and Ma Long have their own strengths, but the latter is a veteran who is about to turn 36 years old, and his physical function and physical energy are naturally difficult to compare with young players.
The process of the game
After the start of the first game, Wang Chuqin quickly launched and suppressed Ma Long in the quality of the board, especially in terms of speed, but Ma Long quickly found a breakthrough through the change of landing point and rhythm, and successfully achieved a reversal in the middle section, but then he was chased to only 1 point, at which time Ma Long very rarely called a timeout to adjust.
As we all know, athletes on both sides of a table tennis match can only call a timeout, so few people use this right in the first game, but Ma Long, as a veteran, knows that he must fight quickly to gain an advantage, and if he drags it back, his physical fitness and energy may not be able to keep up with the young people, so he will interrupt the game, and he then won 12-10 narrowly.
In the second game, Ma Long's momentum was like a rainbow, and he continued to suppress his junior brother and take a 6-0 lead, such a good state obviously exceeded Wang Chuqin's expectations, but he then also played a very beautiful middle platform pull, through a stronger physique to break through Ma Long's defense, but was reversed in the case of reversing to get the game point, Ma Long won 12-10 again to expand the advantage.
In the third game, Wang Chuqin fell into passivity again, and soon after the start of the game, he was defeated and retreated, at this time Ma Long played a very good competitive state on the court, constantly playing to his strengths and avoiding weaknesses, preventing the opponent's backhand twist and breakthrough at the same time, suppressing the middle and forehand positions, and finally won 11-6, thus leading Wang Chuqin into a desperate situation with a big score of 3-0.
In the fourth game, Wang Chuqin fell behind again shortly after the start and had to call a timeout to adjust, after all, there was no chance if he lost again. However, after returning to the court, Ma Long still played quite methodically, although he wasted 4 match points, but finally withstood the pressure and ended the battle 14-12, thus sweeping the world No. 1 Wang Chuqin 4-0, just one step away from the championship.
At present, it seems that Ma Long's strength is still among the top in the world, but as he gets older, his physical condition is not as good as before, but the control of the game is still unmatched, I look forward to his equally good performance in the finals, and I wish him to be selected for the Paris Olympics soon and hit the gold medal again!