By Henry Chen

“After Rio, we got much more attention. To be honest, it will affect me more or less. But I have to adjust myself to this situation and I’m really thankful for the support of the fans,” said Ma Long.

Ma Long was in a series of events ever since he and the rest of the Chinese delegation arrived from their success in the Rio Olympic Games. Those events include interaction with fans, awarding ceremonies, and television guesting.

Here’s a photo of Ma Long with the popular Taiwanese entertainment personality, Jolin Tsai.

Despite extracurricular activities lined up, Ma Long is still expected to grace the 2016 ITTF World Tour SheSays China Open. The Grand Slam champion debuted today, 16th of September, for the opening round of the Singles main event.

Unfortunately, there is one competition Ma Long has to pull out. That is the 2016 Liebherr Men’s World Cup scheduled on October 1st to 3rd in Saarbrücken, Germany. He explains:

“First, after the Rio Olympic Games, I felt very tired. My waist and knee do not feel very well. For protecting myself, I have to pull out. Second, we attended many events after Rio so we don’t have much time to train systematically.”

Ma Long is a very competitive player. He is serious in any competition that he attends. He will always aspire for victory. For him, the World Cup is one of the prestigious events in Table Tennis and therefore he needs to give his all. Unfortunately, he is not prepared for it.

“The World Cup is a very important event. If I attend, definitely I want to win. But now I am lacking in training and not in the perfect form. So I have to give up. It’s a pity,” concluded Ma Long.

For the meantime, let’s look back on Ma Long’s performance in the 2015 Liebherr Men’s World Cup.