On a Friday evening at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Ma Long defeated compatriot Fan Zhendong 4-2 to become the first man in Olympic history to defend a singles table tennis title.
Control seized, then pressure absorbed
Ma tore through the opening game 11-4, his forehand dictating every exchange. Fan, the world number one, answered by taking a tight second game 12-10, but Ma stepped back in to claim the next two games 11-8 and 11-9 for a 3-1 lead.
Fan’s charge meets four championship points
Fan stormed through game five 11-3, briefly turning the contest into a survival test. Ma reset immediately, jumping ahead early in game six and pushing his lead to 10-6. He closed it out 11-7 and formed a heart with his arms toward the arena.
A record no man had touched
Four years earlier in Rio, Ma had swept Zhang Jike to complete the career Grand Slam. This Tokyo gold gave him his fourth Olympic title at age 32 and made him the most decorated male player in the sport’s Olympic story.
The win sat atop a career already built around three consecutive world singles titles. It also marked the fourth straight Olympics where China occupied both top steps of the men’s singles podium.
“The match with Fan Zhendong is probably the only match in the world that I could play with no pressure,” Ma told reporters afterwards, the calm settling over a contest that had contained everything.
A sixth gold would follow in Paris three years later, but the mark made in Tokyo stood alone: a champion who returned to the summit and stayed there, on his own terms.
