Ma Long, who has not retired for the time being, was elected vice chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association and will still compete in the 2025 National Games at the end of the year

The management of the Chinese Table Tennis Association changed on the 23rd, in addition to the resignation of the former chairman Liu Guoliang and the replacement of the former vice chairman Wang Liqin, the famous generals Ma Long and Gao Yuanyi became vice chairmen respectively. The 36-year-old announced his retirement from the world rankings at the end of last year, but he will still compete in the National Games at the end of this year.

Ma Long (first from right) was elected as the new vice chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association

After being elected as the new vice chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, Ma Long said that he would pay more attention to the construction of young athletes and echelons, "The Chinese table tennis team has been able to prosper for so many years because there is a good echelon construction and there are constantly young outstanding athletes coming out. ”

Ma Long has won a total of six gold medals at four Olympic Games, including London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 (actually in 2021) and Paris 2024, making him the most Olympic gold medalists in Chinese sports, including two men's singles and four men's team gold medals, and the first player in Olympic history to successfully defend his men's singles title (2016 and 2020). He is also the only player in the table tennis world to have achieved a "double Grand Slam" so far, winning two or more singles championships in the Olympic Games, World Championships and World Cup.

Ma Long is worthy of the title of "best in history" in table tennis

At the end of last year, Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng announced that they would withdraw from the world rankings, which means that they will not compete in international competitions for the time being; Later, during IOC President Thomas Bach's visit to China earlier this year, Malone asked him for advice on how he could work in an international sports management organization as an athlete in the future.

Although Ma Long had previously qualified for the World Table Tennis Championships in Doha as a gold medalist at the Paris Olympics, he and two other Olympic gold medalists, Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng, had indicated that they would not participate. But Ma Long still has a live field, he has already expressed his desire to represent Beijing in the National Games in November this year, and earlier in the National Games Qualifying Tournament in March, he led Beijing to qualify for the men's team competition of the National Games, and he has said that this will be his last National Games.

Ma Long (right) represented Beijing in the National Games Qualifying Tournament earlier and qualified for the men's team competition

Ma Long has played in five National Games, winning gold medals in men's singles in 2013 and 2017, winning mixed doubles gold with Ding Ning in 2013 and winning men's doubles gold with Wang Chuqin in 2021.