Ma Long and Xu Xin teamed up again after five years and beat Xiang Peng and Huang Youzheng 3-0, taking the men's doubles title at the 2026 National Table Tennis Championships.
11–4, 11–5, 11–9! Ma Long and Xu Xin won 3–0 in straight sets—they took the match!
In the men’s doubles final at the 2026 Changsha National Championships, two longtime partners teamed up again after a five-year hiatus and, right from the start, completely dominated the young duo of Xiang Peng and Huang Youzheng, who had pulled off a series of upsets to reach the final.
No one understands each other’s positioning better than these two.In the first set, Xu Xin’s varied serves threw his opponents off, forcing them into return errors, while Ma Long’s quick net play left them no time to react. The lead expanded from 3–0 to 8–2, and before the young players could catch their breath, the set was already in their grasp.In the second game, their opponents played aggressively and fiercely, but the duo dropped back to block every powerful smash, their defense so tight that their opponents couldn’t find a single opening. They maintained control from start to finish.In the third set, the opponents gritted their teeth and fought back, tying the score from 6–6 to 8–8. The pair didn’t flinch, covering for each other and applying pressure with their shots, grinding out point after point until they reached match point.
No one could believe this was a pair that hadn’t played together in five years. Their track record of winning three men’s doubles gold medals together speaks for itself—the chemistry they’d built over so many years playing side by side wasn’t something that could just vanish overnight.Their path to the final wasn’t smooth sailing either; they’d previously battled through a grueling five-set match, and it wasn’t until they shut out their opponents in the semifinals that they finally made it to the final.
At the moment they clinched the championship with a shutout, the cheering sticks clutched by the longtime fans on the sidelines were so tightly gripped that they left marks.
You say these two veterans in their thirties are standing on opposite ends of the same table again after such a long time—what exactly is driving them?
