Michael Maze
| Michael Maze | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Michael Maze | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |
 Denmark | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
1 September 1981 Faxe, Denmark | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest ranking | 8 (January 2010)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 71 kg (157 lb; 11.2 st)[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Michael Maze (born 1 September 1981) is a former professional table tennis player from Faxe, Denmark.[2] He normally plays both in the men's singles and in men's doubles. As of 2005, he is one of the top five left-handed players in the world. His strength is in his strong forehand loop and lobbing. He is currently considered to be one of the best, if not the best, defensive lobbers in the world. His strong forehand loop, his forehand pendulum serve, and his confident defensive play away from the table makes him a solid all-around player.
Career
Maze won the European Junior Championships in both singles and doubles in 1999.[3] He reached the quarterfinals in the European Championships for seniors in both series in 2003 playing doubles with Finn Tugwell. Tugwell and Maze participated as partners at the 2000 Summer Olympics where they reached the round of 16. Before the 2004 Summer Olympics, Maze won the Europe Top-12 tournament in Frankfurt am Main in February 2004. He participated both in men's singles and men's doubles in the 2004 Olympics. Maze lost his first match in singles but won bronze with his partner Finn Tugwell.[4]
Another of Maze's achievements was reaching the semifinals of the 2005 World Championships that took place in Shanghai, China, in which he was defeated by the home favorite, Ma Lin, in a swift 4-0 match. Nevertheless, he had managed to put up a memorable performance in the quarterfinals of the competition, coming back from a 3-0 deficit to win 4-3 against another Chinese player, Hao Shuai, saving 3 match points, as well as a win in the previous match against 2004 Olympics Men's singles silver medallist Wang Hao, again from the host nation. Michael Maze won the prize "BT Gold" as the biggest Danish sportperson in 2005.
Michael Maze won European bronze in singles in 2007. In 2009, Maze had reached the quarterfinals of 2009 World Table Tennis Championships, held in Yokohama, Japan. He was the only European player to achieve the quarters, beating Greek player Panagiotis Gionis at last 16 Round. On 20 September 2009 he defeated Werner Schlager in the final of the European Championships held in Stuttgart, Germany after defeating the German favorite Timo Boll in the semis.
Maze (representing Denmark) was defeated during the 2012 Olympics by Dimitrij Ovtcharov (representing Germany) in the Men's Singles Quarter Final.[5] His coach is the former Chinese National Team Coach Hu Wei Xin.
On 14 March 2016, Michael Maze announced the end of his Table Tennis career.[6] He was hoping to compete in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games.
Equipment
Maze currently uses a Butterfly Timo Boll Spirit Blade with Butterfly Tenergy 05 on the forehand and Butterfly Bryce Speed on the backhand. He changes the rubber every 15-16 days.
References
- ↑ "World ranking Record for MAZE Michael (DEN)". ittf.com. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
- 1 2 3 "MAZE Michael". ittf.com. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
- ↑ "MAZE Michael (DEN)". ittf.com. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
- ↑ "ITTF Museum Olympic Results Page". Retrieved 2007-12-12.
- ↑ "UK Yahoo Eurosport". Retrieved 2012-12-31.
- ↑ "Michael Maze - The time has come! I have made the most... | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2016-03-18.