31/08/2026
Ma Lin remains the only man in table tennis history to win Olympic gold in singles, doubles, and team events, an achievement built, in part, on his response to a rule change many believed would end his career.
When the sport moved from the 38mm to the 40mm ball in 2000, penhold players like Ma Lin faced what he calls being "sentenced to death," a shift that stripped away the spin and power their game depended on. He answered by becoming the first player to win a world title with the new ball, at the ITTF World Cup in Yangzhou.
Across nearly three decades, Ma Lin navigated almost every major rule change in the sport's history, including ball size, scoring format, and serve regulations, and came to see each one not as a disruption, but as the game maturing in public.
In this latest instalment of Voices of ITTF Legends, Ma Lin, now head coach of the Chinese women's national team, reflects on adaptation, recovering from defeat, and the legacy he hopes to pass on.
Read the full interview: https://www.ittf.com/2026/08/31/voices-of-ittf-legends-ma-lin-the-penhold-player-who-refused-to-be-written-off/
