China’s Ma Long and Ding Ning top list in 21st century Dream Team voted by fans
- ITTF social media followers pick Ma and Ding as their best male and female players according to the public ballot
- Both players can set an Olympics record with five golds each if they win the singles and team events at the Tokyo Olympics next year
China’s Ma Long and Ding Ning headed the top five players’ list in the 21st Century Dream Team in the men’s and women’s categories respectively, according to a public ballot organised by the sport’s world governing body.
Both players are the reigning Olympic singles champion, with Ma tallying 15.4 per cent of the vote that saw fans chose their favourite players through the ITTF’s social media channels.
Ding, had a similar vote count of 15.5 per cent. The pair were also members of China’s victorious gold medal winning team at the Rio Olympics four years ago.
The mainlanders have for many years been the sport’s powerhouse, and it came as little surprise that the pair dominated their voting categories. Fans picked their top five players in the men’s and women’s category with Ma and Ding topping the lists for men and women respectively.
Nicknamed Captain Dragon (Long means dragon in Chinese), 31-year-old Ma has a record that speaks for itself. He’s the reigning world and Olympic champion and has the most number of singles titles (28) under his belt on the world tour. He’s also a five-time winner in the world tour grand finals and is a two-time World Cup champion.
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Despite struggling to regain her best form after winning her third gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics (she won two golds in Rio in the singles and doubles and team gold in London), Ding remains one of the sport’s most formidable players. The 29-year-old has won three world championship singles titles (2011, 2015, 2017) and is also a triple winner in the World Cup, recording a 100 per cent win ratio in the latter event. Her team record is also impeccable, winning four world championship titles and six team World Cups.
If both players are selected to represent China again at the 2020 Tokyo Games, which has been pushed back a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, they could at least match China’s all-time best or even surpass their compatriots’ record in Tokyo if they win gold medals in both singles and team.
Both Ma and Ding have won three gold medals since making their Olympic debuts at the 2012 London Games, just one short of retired compatriots, Deng Yaping, Wang Nan and Zhang Yining, who all won four golds.
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Former world champion Jan-Ove Waldner, of Sweden, came second in voting in the men’s category with a 12.2 per cent share, followed by Timo Boll of Germany and two mainlanders, Xu Xin and Zhang Zike.
In the women category, Japan’s Mima Ito, considered an exciting young talent, occupied second spot with 13.4 per cent of the vote. Ito is widely considered the only player who can challenge the mainlanders at the 2020 Tokyo Games, where Ito will play in front of a home crowd.
At the age of 15, the Japanese teenager became the youngest table tennis player to claim a medal on the Olympic stage when Japan finished third in the women’s team competition in Rio and the fast improving player, now aged 19, has so far claimed eight singles titles on the world tour, capturing the hearts of many fans worldwide.
The remaining three players who made it to the women’s top five are all Chinese players – Liu Shiwen, the reigning world champion, retired Zhang Yining and Chen Meng.
