Ma keeps his spirits high

BEIJING: The world’s top table tennis player Ma Long has added a secret new performance-enhancing substance to his Rio 2016 training regime as he tries to overcome

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BEIJING: The world’s top table tennis player Ma Long has added a secret new performance-enhancing substance to his Rio 2016 training regime as he tries to overcome anxiety: booze.

China’s top player has long dominated the world rankings, but failed to qualify for the singles competition at the London 2012 Olympics and finally won the world championship last year at his fifth attempt, raising questions about his mental resilience.

The lanky, muscular 27-year-old from the northeastern province of Liaoning lacks nothing when it comes to technical skills and is renowned for his scorching serve and deceptive spin.

RELAXATION THE KEY

But his struggles with nerves under pressure have driven China’s chief table tennis coach Liu Guoliang to focus instead on teaching his protege how to relax. “For Ma Long, two things are most important,” he said. “One is that when the pressure gets very high, to make him go to a bar and drink some alcohol.”

The other was to distract him with chit-chat, he added.

Moderation in drinking was key, Liu said, but the goal was to get the obsessed player to “relax a bit, because the demands he usually puts on himself are very strict and harsh”.

TOUGH SCHEDULE

Ma has been selected for both the singles and team events in Rio, alongside compatriot and London gold medallist Zhang Jike, whom he will attempt to prevent becoming the first man to defend an Olympic table tennis singles title. “I think Ma Long is the favourite to take first prize” at the Olympics, coach Liu said. “Now we just have to pay attention to his thought patterns and release his mental stress.”