World No. 1 Ma Long struggles to advance into 3rd round at table tennis worlds

DUSSELFDORF, Germany, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion and world No. 1 Ma Long fought back from one game down and then held off a late surge from Anton Kallberg to win a second-round match at the World Table Tennis Championships here on Thursday.

Ma, also the Olympic champion in Rio, dropped the first game 4-11 before taking the next three to pull ahead 3-1.

The 20-year-old Kallberg, ranked 97th in the world, won the fifth 11-8 before trailing Ma 6-10. He won three points in a row to make it 9-10 before Ma finished off the match 11-9.

The match was held just two hours after Ma and German star Timo Boll lost to Chinese pair Xu Xin and Fan Zhendong 4-1 in the second round of the men's doubles.

"It is very tough to play two matches during such a short period of time," Ma said. "And since the ball is larger, the game becomes more energy-consuming. It is really a difficult match and fortunately I made the right adjustment at the right time."