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.
