Rio gold medalist Ma Long withdraws from team trials for World Championships

SHENZHEN, China, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese paddler Ma Long, who ranked 1st in the world, pulled out from the team trials for the World Table Tennis Championships, scheduled to be held in Dusseldorf, Germany in May, due to his waist injury here on Thursday.

The 28-year-old Ma, who won the men's singles at 2016 Rio Olympics, beat his teammate Zhou Kai in straight games 11-9, 11-7 on Thursday afternoon. Instead of continuing the match against Zhou Yu at night, he announced to withdraw from the team trials because of his waist injury.

"It's a little regretful quitting the trials. I felt pain on my waist during the match against Lin Gaoyuan on Tuesday. I didn't have enough time to recover before I hurt the waist again today," " said the captain of Chinese team.

Teammate Zhang Jike had already dropped out on Monday due to his foot injury.