There’s no famous and legit when it comes to table tennis but the Chinese athlete Ma Long. Back to back, claiming the gold medal, this athlete’s stab method is by aggressive forehand. Likewise, he is famous for “The Dictator” and “The Dragon.”
Getting training from a very young age, this professional Chinese athlete achieved several achievements. Moreover, he claimed Championships and Olympics medals consistently.
Likewise, Ma broke worldwide records from his playing. There’s been more than a decade of his playing and staying best out of bests. On that note, he made deals with renowned brands and has sponsorships.
Also, Ma is one of the wealthiest table tennis athletes globally.
Meanwhile, achieving some of it, Ma had to deal with his bodily injury. Despite that, people being jealous of his playing also led to suffering from a career-threatening call. But, somehow, injuries always made his fans think of Ma, whether he will be high as he used to be.
Despite all, his playing and earning honors over the years led him to know as the national hero of his nation China. Hence, Ma is sharp, focused, thoughtful, strategic, and configures the best way to beat his main rivals.
Undoubtedly, Ma’s multi-million earning also donated to the different non-profitable organizations. Similarly, he also invests his time in several charitable events. On the other side Long is involved as an ambassador for some Commercials.
Quick Facts
Knowing more about this extraordinary athlete of China, here are some of the quick facts about him as follows:
| Full Name | Ma Long |
| Native Name | 马龙 |
| Nickname | The Dictator, The Dragon |
| Birth Date | October 20, 1988 |
| Birth Place | Anshan, Liaoning, China |
| Residence | Fengtian, Jiangxi Sheng, China |
| Religion | N/A |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Ethnicity | White |
| Education | Shannan Primary School Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Antai College of Economics and Management |
| Horoscope | Libra |
| Father’s Name | Ma Yujun |
| Mother’s Name | N/A |
| Siblings | N/A |
| Age | 36 Years Old |
| Height | 5 feet and 0.9 inches (175 cm) |
| Weight | 72 kg (159 lbs.) |
| Eye Color | Black |
| Hair Color | Black |
| Body type | Athletic |
| Profession | Table Tennis Player |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Spouse | Zhang Yaqing |
| Children | 1 |
| Name of Children | N/A |
| Beginning of Professional Career | 2003 |
| Retirement | N/A |
| Playing style | Right-handed, Shakehand Grip |
| Sports team | Shandong Weiqiao |
| Coach | Qin Zhijian |
| Records | Fastest player to win all possible single titles First and only male to win two consecutive singles titles at the National Games |
| Net Worth | $20 million |
| Prize Money | $16,000 |
| Last Update | January, 2025 |
Early and Personal Life
The Table Tennis champion, Ma Long, was born on October 20, 1988, in Anshan, Liaoning, China. Earlier, he was nicknamed ITTF Pro Tour King and Fei Long. Currently, Mai resides in Fengtian, Jiangxi Sheng, China.
Despite any other family member, Ma has a very supportive father, Ma Yujun. Likewise, he attended Shannan Primary School. Then he joined Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Antai College of Economics and Management.
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Other than that, Ma is married to Zhang Yaqing, and they have a beloved son.
Career
Early Career
Before anything, Ma started to know about table tennis just at the age of 5. Then, going with the same flow, he scouted and moved to Beijing after eight years of hardship. Thus, there he had more formal and advanced training.
After all, he entered the Chinese National Team in 2003. Similarly observing over his potentiality, Ma was more recognized by all of the coaching staff. Furthermore, in 2004, he claimed his first world Singles title-winning the World Junior Championships.
Moreover, just at the age of 18, Ma became the youngest world champion as he took part in the 2006 World Team Championships.
Overall, Ma trained professionally at such a young age, and he had superb skills. So for every opponent, Ma was already a very hard opponent to beat.
Professional Career
Moving on to playing professionally, Ma leads his way to success gradually. Similarly, by 2010-2012, he hit an unbelievable winning streak with fifty-one consecutive wins. His consistency and passion for tennis brought a long success to him.
Accordingly, as he reached twenty-two, he experienced a lot of success in single matches. Likewise, he won Grand Slams for the first time in 2016. Since then, he paved his way with success marking records over records.
On the same note, Ma became World Champion three times in 2015, 2017, and 2019. Meanwhile, his winning at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games made him known as the current World and Olympic champion.
Back to back, he participated in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. And there, he won gold representing his country. After this, Ma became the first athlete to win gold consistently in Olympics for table tennis.
Achieving more and more during ITTF Tournament, he won all of the titles available in the game. Thus it is the streak of five successive wins. Since then, his nickname was added as “The Dictator.”
Threats and Injury
As every success has some cons besides it, Ma had to face some of it. After winning the Rio Olympics in 2018, he unexpectedly had to deal with a career-threatening knee injury. That also includes niggles to the wrist and back.
As a result, this forcefully made him withdraw from several high-profile World Tour events. Very sadly, he also missed the prestigious year-ending Grand Finals. Subsequently, he did not show up in any international events for more than five months.
On the other side, Ma became seriously injured. For the same reason, Liu Guoliang, President of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, announced that Ma’s case was worse than initially thought. In addition, Mr. Liu is the former Head Coach of the Nation.
Such notice made everyone doubt his participation in the 2019 World Championships in Budapest and the Tokyo Olympics. However, despite all of the rumors and doubt, Ma set fire on the racker and smoldered his opponents in both competitions. Thus, this silenced all of the doubters for good.
By the time changed, he appeared in way more powerful. Likewise, he started using passive stroked like backhand roll, push blocking the more significant effect. Rather than forceful enact, he recognized his technical superiority using such a stroke.
Ma Long became a national hero by reviving himself with incredible achievements and marking as ‘The Dragon’ the undisputed GOAT.
But it is evident, Ma came up with new technical changes, erasing years of his muscle memory and game plans. Hence, he is genuinely an incredible achiever.
Awards and Achievements
Overall, following we have global winning of Ma in table tennis competition as mentioned below:
- Five times Olympics gold medal
- Seven times Winner of ITTF World Tour Grand Finals
- Twelve times World Champion
- Three times All China Table Tennis Championships
- Three times Asian Junior Championship
- Nine times World Cups winner
- Three times World Junior Championship
- Three times gold in the National Games of China
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Net Worth
With analysis and research, he has once been announced as #8 in the world’s Richest Table Tennis player list. Earning from tennis as a primary source, he also earns some of it from brand deals.
Moreover, he is likely to mean $16,000 (approx) per match. In the final analysis, his expected amount of net worth is $20 million.
Social Media Appearances
Maybe considering his previous threats and all, Ma is not active on any social media platform. Thus, there is no interaction with any of his fans.
However, there are several fan pages and cites that amazingly keep updates about him. Among them, an unofficial fan page is famous on Instagram that is @malong1020, which has 77.9k followers (as of 2021).
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Frequent Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is Ma Long retired?
Currently, Ma is 33 years old, but he is still representing his country globally. Thus, he might be retired soon as well.
What kind of racket does Ma Long use?
Reportedly, Ma uses Hurricane Long 5 type of racket.
