By Henry Chen

The Olympic Women’s Singles have already determined the winner even though the competition hasn’t ended yet.

With Chinese players Ding Ning and Li Xiaoxia in the finals, the winner is definitely Team China.

However, that is not the case for the Men’s Singles yet. Currently, their players Ma Long and Zhang Jike are yet to battle with their respective opponents in the semifinals. Ma Long will face Jun Mizutani while Zhang Jike will fight against Vladimir Samsonov.

Unlike Zhang Jike, Ma Long actually looks more auspicious in his match against the Japanese seed. Records will attest to that with Ma Long winning all 12 encounters against Jun Miztuani in the international circuit.

The only time the Japanese player got very near in winning was in the 2008 TMS Open in Singapore where he scored 10-12 in the seventh game of round 16. As for the other matches, they were almost a one-way traffic in favour of Ma Long.

Despite that advantage, the reigning world champion would rather not think about those past records. For him, being able to adjust well for his next game is the most important thing to focus on as of now.

“We have been familiar with each other. Being able to reach the semifinals means that his condition is extremely good. I hope that I will be able to adjust to a good condition and put aside all the burdens!” Ma Long said.

Well, Jun Mizutani will definitely put up a good fight in the next round after all, he is the only Japanese player left in the competition. His compatriot Ai Fukuhara got crashed out of the competition by the reigning Olympic champion Li Xiaoxia in the Women’s Singles semifinals.

After sealing his victory against Quadri Aruna in the quarterfinals, Ma Long was questioned if he will be relaxing before the semifinals. He simply said no. He added that he can only relax after the Olympic Team competition, and for the Chinese Team, that means after they win the gold.