The Battle to be World Champion

- I'm invited to commentate at the 2023 World Championships in Durban, South Africa. It's been 84 years since they hosted the World Championships in Africa. This is gonna be a crazy experience. There are a total of five events. This time, I'm gonna focus on the men's singles event, because of this guy, Ma Long, the G.O.A.T of table tennis. Here's the story. Only one man has won four. consecutive World Championships, and that was in 1935. It was Viktor Barna. At that time, World Championships. were held every year. But after 1957, instead, of being every year, they were every other year,. which made it even tougher. Ma Long won in 2015, '17, and '19, and in 2021, he had the, chance to break a record that hadn't been touched, in the modern era, and he simply didn't show. This is still one of the great mysteries of table tennis. And everyone thought Ma Long might be retiring, because we rarely see, players play for China after the age of 30, but, now, at the age of 34, he is here for this World Championships, which might be his last. China has dominated this event for many years. Both of these players are here, and they both were undefeated at their last World, Championships in singles. But here, only one player can win. Nine days, 128 of the, world's best players, and only one winner. This is gonna be crazy difficult. for every single player. So, let the World Championships begin. Day one. I'm running late for the event. The stadium is just five, minutes away from our hotel. Media entrance! - Adam Bobrow. We want to see you. - But I have to quickly reach the commentary box. Hey, hey, now, it's time to commentate. The match going on is between Ma Long, the G.O.A.T, and Gaston Alto from Argentina. And Ma Long, The Captain, The Dragon, The Dictator, took the victory, winning four to zero. - I hear the sound of table, tennis being practiced. I'm about to open this door. Snap, that's what I open to? My goodness. Whoa. - So much energy in this room! Hey, Yukiya Uda waving and, stretching at the same time. How are things going?. - Beep-- Beep, beep, beep, beep-- - I didn't, realize that Mattias Falck, the silver medalist from, the 2019 World Championships was knocked out of the event, in the round of 128. - Kristian Karlsson. Make it to the round of 32, we'll be watching. - Thanks. - We believe in you.. - Thank you. - Day one, lot of the matches, go quicker than usual. There are a lot of four - zero victories. - We've seen 32 matches today in the round of 128. Mattias Falck, and Anton, Kallberg from Sweden were eliminated. These were major upsets today. But there can be more upsets on day two. - All right, this is. what my face looks like fresh after a shower, and let's see what happens on day two. - Queen of Africa, Dina Meshref.. - Hi, Adam. - I asked her, and many others, who will be the winner of men's singles. - I would say Fan Zhendong. - World number one.. - Ma Long. - Fan Zhendong., - Harimoto. - Everybody has their own opinion. But it's a long way to go, we'll see. It's time for the matches. - Ooh.. - Both Wang Chuqin, and Lin Gaoyuan of China moving on to the round of 64. I even met some of my subscribers! Latifat--, - I'm a huge fan of yours from Africa. - Thank you! - Can I get your autograph?, - Yeah, sure-- - I'm such a fan! I've been waiting for you in Singapore. - Oh my goodness--, - But I can't see you. - Everybody is so friendly here. - Shane Overmeyer, nine-time South African national champion. All right-- See you later. So we got some of the ball kids over here, playing some table tennis. They got so excited to see me, and asked to play with me. So, I guess it's time to play a few matches. - Ahhh! - Ahhhhh! - Ahh! - I played for one and a half hours, and it felt like 30 minutes. Too much fun. - What rubbers are you using? - I'm using the Andro Rasanter R45. - Nice. - Round of 128 is over, and there were some big upsets too. Hugo Calderano, world number six, was beaten by Brian Afanador, world number 74! There's a lot to look forward, to in the coming days. - Time to head into the stadium. It's day three. Fan Zhendong is playing Panagiotis Gionis. Panagiotis Gionis is one. of the best defenders in the world, the Defentist, because he's a dentist, and a defender, rare combination. And Fan Zhendong, the world number one, and defending world, champion, took the victory. Now, it's time for Alexis Lebrun and Ibrahima Diaw. Alexis Lebrun is now a, two time French champion, at the age of 19, and. he's beaten Fan Zhendong in recent times. It'll be interesting, if we see a rematch with Alexis and Fan Zhendong, in this championship. - Now he's got five match points. And Alexis won the match. Another day full of some exciting matches. Eugene Wang of Canada was beaten by Ma Long, but a very tight first game. Truls Moregard, the silver medalist from the last World Championships, won against Cho Seungmin of Korea. This is Dimitrij Ovtcharov. He's beaten the defending world champion, the world number one, Fan Zhendong, three times in recent history. Dimitrij Ovtcharov won four to one over Niagol Stoyanov of Italy. - Day number three, a lot of drama here. So far, the only seed who's been knocked out, Hugo Calderano, the sixth seed. So seven of the top eight, still in it. - Day four. - Good morning. Ready to go into the stadium. Already a few matches checked. off the to-do list today. - This is my buddy Brian Afanador. The player that beat world number six, The Thrill from Brazil, Hugo Calderano, in the round of 128. I wanted to say congratulations. You're welcome. So, when's your next match? - Next match, I just lost against-- - Really--.

- Anders Lind. I fought, I gave all my, best, but at the end, this is table tennis, you know. - Yeah.. - Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. - Wow, man. - Time to enjoy more action! - So now, the Lebrun, brothers, Felix and Alexis are moving on to the round of 32. Just found out, using my VPN,, that I can watch this live. Table two, at the other end, of the stadium right now. Match point! And he does it! Omar Assar makes his way through to the round of 32. - Team Slovakia here. Lubo Pistej! He's got some of the most, crazy shots in the game. So much feeling, snakes galore, everything. What happened? - Okay, so Quadri Aruna. has been eliminated in the round of 64. The hopes of Africa rest on, Omar Assar at this point. We'll have to keep an eye out. - At the end of day four, Maharu Yoshimura, one of. the last non-Chinese players to beat Ma Long in recent history, was knocked out by Liang Jingkun of China. These are the players. who are going to play in the round of 32., - Hey, morning. - Hello .. - Who do you think's gonna win the men's singles event? - Not me ., - I know, I know. - I'll answer you after semifinals. - Okay . Good to see ya. - Good time to have a good seat like this for this Kristian Karlsson, Ma Long match. I didn't wanna miss it., - So many fans are desperately wanting Ma Long to win this match, because this might be his last World Championships. Oh, short side of the. table Kristian Karlsson. Ma Long hasn't lost any match. at the World Championships since 2013. Around the net! Ma Long is moving on to the round of 16. Whether this is Ma Long's last World Championships, or not, there's no question that he's in outstanding form. Lin Yun-Ju has two match. points against Ruwen Filus. The Silent Assassin moves on through. Congratulations, how you feeling? - I'm feeling good. - Awesome, man. Time to commentate some table tennis. Alexis Lebrun is out. Felix Lebrun got beaten too. This is Adam from the future. While this video was being edited, at just 16 years old,. Felix Lebrun had become the European Men's Singles Champion after winning the gold medal at The European Games. The Lebrun brothers have a very. bright future ahead of them. The battles are only getting tougher, and there were so many crazy matches today. Omar Assar, the champion of Africa, beat Truls Moregard. This is massive. Ever since the Olympics, Omar's been playing incredibly well. Now, Dimitrij Ovtcharov,, the former world number one, is out of the race, courtesy of Tomislav Pucar. We're more than half way through the biggest event of the year. Let's move on to day number six. - Watching the event, it really reminds me how crazy difficult it is for players to win a World Championship. They just keep getting better, and better, the matches. - All nations start to get closer and closer. We have so many surprises at these world championships here. To be honest, I didn't face for a long time. - Richie, thank you so much. - My pleasure. - Hey, guess who's here. to commentate with me. Funke!, - Hello! - Not only is Funke a seven-time Olympian, and an old friend, but she's one of the most, charismatic players in the game. Fan Zhendong beat Dang Qiu, the, top penholder in the world. This ends all German hopes for the men's singles event, and Omar Assar moved on over, Tomislav Pucar of Croatia, in the round of 16. So now, world number one, will face Omar Assar, the African Champion,. in the quarterfinals, on African soil! Now, it's time for the match between Ma Long, and Lim Jonghoon. Ma Long, looking as strong as ever,. just got through Lim Jonghoon like a hot knife and a. warm stick of butter. - You know what was so cool? Table tennis fans came, specifically to watch. The reaction was brilliant, they were on their feet, the whole stadium was on their feet. Lin Yun-Ju, The Silent Assassin, has been knocked out by Lin Gaoyuan.. - Five out of eight players in the quarterfinals are from China. That means every Chinese. representative is still undefeated! This is gonna be really. tough for other countries. What's the most exciting match for you tomorrow? - Every Chinese match. - That's most of 'em, right? - Yeah. - Only three days left. Time flies when you're having fun. - Day seven. - Omar Assar is playing Fan Zhendong. That should be very interesting. Anders is playing against Wang Chuqin. And then Ma Long versus Lin Gaoyuan. Lin Gaoyuan, he's never beaten Ma Long. - On my way to the quarterfinals, I saw a subscriber who. was looking really sad because Wang Manyu was eliminated from the women's singles event. I'm sorry. - I hope she can come back stronger. Yeah. - Your YouTube channel, we really love it. Especially when the part says game point-- - Game point. - Oh -- - So , we really love that part. - By the way, who do you think's gonna win the men's singles event? - Shoot. - Ma Long. - Same. - The first match, is between Fan Zhendong and Omar Assar. Match point! And Fan Zhendong won it, four to zero. The first semifinalist is the defending champion. - Fan Zhendong came through too strong. - It was an exciting battle between Tomokazu Harimoto. and Liang Jingkun. And Liang took the victory. And this is the third,

quarterfinal for the men. And the match has been taken, no replay needed. 11 to 8, Wang Chuqin. Denmark's Anders Lind also played really well throughout this event. So, I had to go interview my. old friend after the match. Dude-- That was incredible. - Thank you. - You're coming after the back, the car accident.. - I mean, it's two years ago-- - Two years-- - But the first year, I didn't really play any tournaments. And my goal for the summer was just to play all the tournaments,, get back to top 100. - And he did that. He was playing as world rank number 173 when this event happened,, and he's recently moved into the top 40. Anders Lind, incredible. - Next tournament, we will mess around. - Sounds good, take care of yourself. - Yes, thank you, you too. - We just witnessed one. of the greatest matches in World Championships history. - Hina Hayata was down 8 to 10 in the final game, and after that, she saved nine match points, and won the match. 21 to 19, what a win for Japan! - I'm kind of shaking, it was amazing. I'm completely spent. - After this nail-biting match, it's time for the most awaited match of the day. The Captain, The Dragon, The Dictator, Ma Long, versus The Dark Knight, Lin Gaoyuan. Nine serving seven. And the wide angle sets it up here.. - Lot of the world wants to see him complete his. fourth World Championships in singles. Match point! And Ma Long breaks on through, it has not been easy! So here is the semifinal draw. Fan Zhendong will face Liang Jingkun, and Ma Long will face Wang Chuqin. All four Chinese players. will fight for the trophy. This is gonna be really interesting to watch. After commentating, I ran. into Hina Hayata's coach, my friend Daisuke Ishida. And thought that Hina might. like to have the score sheet from her first ever win against Wang Yidi. - In my writing, just the score, this is the most amazing match I've seen... in a decade - Yes, yes-- - I was crying-- - Big, ah! - Unbelievable. - Thank you-- Thank you. - It's day eight, semifinal day. - This is the road to the final. - The first match is. between Ma Long and Wang Chuqin. And there are four match points here, for Wang Chuqin. - Everybody in the crowd is quite nervous, including me. Match point! Survives one, there's a massive roar in the crowd as well. - Match point! Wang Chuqin is into his first men's singles. World Championship final. - Ma Long lost at, the World Championships for the first time in 10 years. So we have our first finalist, Wang Chuqin. Let's see the second match of the day between world number five, Liang Jingkun, and world number one, Fan Zhendong. Match point! Fan Zhendong, into his third men's singles final. - So here are our finalists. This is a battle between world number one, and world number two.. - Wait a second. Are you subscribed? Because only 15% of the people watching this video are subscribed to my channel. So, if you enjoy this video,. I think you'll love the rest. So hit that subscribe button, and the notification bell. And never miss a video. - The final day. I woke up early and got, ready with great excitement for the final we've been waiting for. - Okay, it's day nine, the final day. Fan Zhendong has a winning record. Wang Chuqin's been unstoppable. lately, against Ma Long. It's gonna be close. I'm curious what the fans think. - So I asked everyone who will win. - Fan Zhendong.. - Wang Chuqin. - Wang Chuqin.. - Fan Zhendong. - Wang Chuqin. - Fan Zhendong. - Fan Zhendong.. - Wang Chuqin. - Fan Zhendong. - Fan Zhendong. - Fan Zhendong. - Wang. - Wang Chuqin., - Fan Zhendong. - Wang Chuqin.. - Fan Zhendong seems to be the favorite for me too. - Welcome back. to Durban, South Africa, where the action is going, down here on day nine, the final day of action. - The match is about to start, but before that, Ma Long was, awarded a half-sized replica of the historical St. Bride Vase, because of his three consecutive wins, in 2015, '17, and '19. And this might be his. last World Championships. - I hope more people like. to play table tennis. Thanks South Africa, thanks Durban. - Wow. He breathed a heart onto, the trophy while kissing it. Couldn't get any better. Now, let's move on to the final match. Match point! He has saved five championship points!. - And now we're in deuce, in game number five. Deuce. - Six in a row! - And he's got the. serve to convert the game. Game point. And what a moment for Fan Zhendong. - Deuce. Amazing. Amazing!, - Game point. - Wang Chuqin just came back from 5-10 down, saving five championship points, crazy. - Nine, two. Now, Wang Chuqin needs to save eight championship points. Match point! It will not be a repeat, there will be a fight back, match point! - And the world number one does it. Fan Zhendong-- - He's now won the men's singles World Championships back-to-back. One in 2021, in USA, and now again. While this event was really exciting, and didn't feel like work. I figured, if I'm gonna be all the way out here in South Africa, I need to. stop and enjoy a safari. So for two days, I saw, some incredible views. I learned a ton about the world, nature, and all of our animalistic instincts. It was an incredible experience. I really enjoyed my time. here in Africa, once again. And I can't wait to be back. Until next time, keep on pongin'. Peace.,