Ma Long wins record fourth Qatar Open title

Olympic and World champion Ma Long, making a return to the international scene after a seven-month hiatus, completed a memorable comeback after clinching the ITTF World Tour Platinum Qatar Open yesterday. The 30-year-old is a legend in Table Tennis, having held the No. 1 ranking for 64 months, the most by any male player in the history. But injuries and loss of form meant he has slipped down to No. 11. But now Ma Long is on his way back to top, after the Chinese emerged triumphant at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah arena yesterday.The No. 11 seed beat second seed and his doubles partner in Doha, Lin Gaoyuan 9-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-9, 11-9 in the title clash. After having lost the first two games, Ma Long scripted a dramatic comeback to win the next four games with ease. It is Ma Long’s fourth Qatar Open title, having previously won in 2013, 2016 and 2017. He moved ahead of colleagues Wang Liqin and Xu Xin and Croatian Zoran Primorac, who had emerged triumphant in Doha on three occasions. The Chinese superstar has now equalled the 27 ITTF World Tour titles won by Belarusian legend Vladimir Samsonov. Furthermore, yesterday’s victory comes exactly three weeks before the World Table Tennis Championships kicks off in Budapest, the sport’s main event of the year which everyone had thought Ma Long would be missing. Doubts even surrounded his participation at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.Nicknamed ‘The Dictator’ and ‘The Dragon’ for his ruthless mentality, Ma Long showed that he has not lost an ounce of his class, quality and competitiveness.“In the context of my longstanding injury, to come back the way I have done, this is the happiest ITTF World Tour title victory of my career. Winning here provides the perfect boost ahead of next month’s World Championships and of course aids my long-term preparations for next year’s Olympic Games,” Ma Long said.This victory, though, will find a special place in Ma Long’s heart after he had to face troubled times since last August. He has been suffering from left knee injury since last August, which saw him withdraw from the ITTF World Tour Opens in the Czech Republic, Sweden, Austria, as well as the 2018 men’s World Cup in Paris and the year-ending Finals in South Korea. He also missed most of last season’s Chinese Super League matches from the eighth round. In Doha, Ma Long showed he was back at his best as he beat higher seeded opponents, including top seed Xu Xin in the semis.Gaoyuan, who has reached the final in the four most recent international tournaments in which he has competed, it was a disappointing end to the tournament. He has now finished runner-up in Doha, Grand Finals and at the ITTF Challenge Series in Portugal. His only title triumph came at the ITTF World Tour in Hungary in January.In the women’s singles, it was a sweet revenge for China’s Wang Manyu as she avenged her loss in the last year’s final to Liu Shiwen. Yesterday, the fourth seeded Manyu turned the tables on third seed Shiwen to win 11-3, 10-12, 12-10, 11-6, 5-11, 11-5.“This win gives me a big confidence boost ahead of the World Championships. It proves to me that I have been working in the right way in recent months, while I still have some time to tweak other aspects of my game before heading to Budapest,” Manyu said.Earlier in the morning, Manyu had scored a stunning win over compatriot and top seed Ding Ning in the semi-finals 11-6, 11-1, 11-6, 11-4.  In the semis, Shiwen had ended the giant-killing run of 18-year-old Youth Olympic champion Sun Yingsha 5-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 11-5.