Tokyo Olympics: Ma Long makes it two all-China finals in men’s and women’s table tennis
- All four gold and silver singles medals will go to China, with Ma up against Fan Zhendong, and Chen Meng taking on Sun Yingsha
- The 32-year-old Ma – considered the greatest of all time – beats Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov 4-3 in barnburner of a semi-final
World No 2 Ma – considered the greatest player of all time – defeated Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov 4-3 in a barnburner of a semi-final on Thursday afternoon, winning the last game 11-9, having twice thrown away leads of 2-0 and 3-2.
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Three-time Olympic gold medallist and reigning champion Ma, 32, had cruised through the tournament up to this point, taking 4-1 victories against India’s Kamal Achanta 4-1, France’s Simon Gauzy 4-1 and then Egypt’s Omar Assar.
He will now face Fan Zhendong, who also won a 4-3 thriller against Taiwan’s world No 3 Lin Yun-ju to seal his place in the final.
“More than playing seven games, I’m proud to win this match. Lin was exceptional,” Fan said. “The amount of pressure he put on me was very great. I made some mistakes but overall I did well. I was resolute and I held my ground.”
