Ma Long lost to Japan's Maharu Yoshimura but defeats Shunsuke Togami to qualify for WTTC 2023

Ma Long lost to Japan’s Maharu Yoshimura but defeats Shunsuke Togami to qualify for WTTC 2023

Published on 12 January 2023 2 minutes 2 minutes

Table Tennis Two times Olympic champion Ma Long of China got upset from Japan’s Yoshimura Maharu in second round match of WTTC Asia Continental Stage. Yoshimura won in 4-3 overall set score and it was a thrilling match for sure.

“It was not a tight schedule in this tournament, so physically I was fine, but I lost a little bit patience when the game didn’t go as I had expected.” Ma Long

Despite Ma’s shock defeat, China had already secured four men’s and five women’s singles berths at the finals. Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng, Wang Yidi and Chen Xingtong all claimed straight-sets victories in the women’s singles, while their fellow Chinese teammate Wang Manyu rallied past Choi Hyo-joo of South Korea 4-1.

Ma Long later played against Japan’s Togami Shunsuka who is another superstar from rising superstar from Japan and Ma Long secured his place in the WTTC 2023 after defeating him in a close match with 4-2 score. Ma won first 3 sets and then lost the two sets. Finally he won in the sixth set and secured his spot.

China has secured all their berth positions for WTTC 2023, a great news for all table tennis fans around the world.

Ma Long suffered a defeat at the hands of Japan's Maharu Yoshimura yesterday, but the World No. 2 gets another chance for a spot in #ITTFWorlds2023 today as he takes on Shunsuke Togami.

Follow all the action of the Asia Continental Stage LIVE 👉 https://t.co/FqzC7pxwLN pic.twitter.com/1VjjRteiBQ
— World Table Tennis (@WTTGlobal) January 11, 2023