Ma Lin Victorious in Volkswagen China Open
Ma Lin, the reigning Olympic singles champion, beat Ma Long in an All- Chinese final at the Volkswagen China Open (June 19th) in Shenzhen. After dropping the first game, in the best of seven final, Ma Lin won four of the next five, ending a three-year long drought since his last Singles Championship on the ITTF Pro Tour (May 2008: Volkswagen Open Japan).
The first game was arguably the most exciting of the match, with Ma Long charging out the gate to take an early lead. But the fourth best player in the world, Ma Lin, refused to let his opponent run away with it. He leveled the game and 9 all and then again at 10 all, utilizing explosive slapbacks in addition to exhibiting fantastic lateral quickness. Ultimately though, Ma Long would win the next two points to win the first game. The loss triggered Ma Lin, who was in attack mode in game two, with clever shots near the net, which put Ma Long off balance for games to come.
Ma Long, shifted the momentum back to his end in Game three winning rather convincingly. Unfazed, Ma Lin responded in Game four exploding to an 11-5 victory. The turning point of the match came in Game five. Back in attack mode, Ma Lin moved ahead 7-3 in the fifth game; he appeared to be on his way to a Game five victory. But once again, neither player would give up. Ma Long leveled the game a 9 all and an unforced error by Ma Lin put Ma Long in a game point situation. Like a true champion, Ma Lin was brilliant in the next point; he hit an outrageous block from the backhand along the parallel to level the game at 10. He used the momentum from the point to take the next two and the game.
After a crushing loss in game five, Ma Long had trouble regaining his composure in game 6 allowing Ma Lin to cruise to the finish line. Ma Lin won game 6 in dominant fashion (11-6), to take home the Singles Championship. For Ma Lin, the match was his 40th appearance in a Men’s Singles Final on the ITTF Pro Tour, and his 20th victory. As mentioned earlier, it was his first Men’s Singles Title on the ITTF Pro Tour since 2008. Since that date, the only major Men’s Single crown Ma Lin had won was in August of 2008, when he took home the Gold Medal in the Olympics for Men’s Singles.
Ping-Pong on YouTube: In other news, check out this RIDICULOUS shot by Mattias Oversjo against Jörgen Persson!!!!