News Table tennis world no 1 Ma Long says qualifying for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as a Chinese player is just as hard as winning the competition Ma Long, whose nickname is the 'Fat Dragon', has won more International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) men's singles titles than any other Chinese player in history, but Rio 2016 will be his first Olympics as a singles player Rio 2016 gold would make Ma the fifth man to complete a grand slam (Getty Images/Robertus Pudyanto) Despite being widely recognised as the best player in the world in the lead-up to London 2012, Ma failed to qualify for the men’s singles because of a couple of ill-timed losses Table tennis’s million-dollar question: how do you beat the Chinese? He responded to his omission with an extraordinary period of sustained dominance, including a 12-month period leading up to June 2016 in which he lost just twice   "(I have been) playing very hard during the last four years, as you know in China (it is) competitive for players to come here, we only have two candidates coming to the Olympic Games (in each singles event)," he said "There has been lots of difficulties over the past four years but finally I am here " It is no accident that Chinese players find it difficult to be selected The limit of two players per country was introduced for London 2012 in response to China’s dominance of the sport in which they have won 24 out of the 28 Olympic gold medals awarded At Rio 2016, plenty of Chinese stars will be missing out in the singles, but none bigger than world No 1 female player Liu Shiwen, overlooked by selectors in favour of Olympic veterans Li Xiaoxia and Ding Ning Ma recommended that Liu focus on the fact she has qualified for the team event, just as he did in 2012   "The situation is normal, Liu Shiwen should prepare well for the team first; she doesn't play singles, but the team medal is also an Olympic gold medal," he said Even though some of his top Chinese rivals will not be featuring in Rio, Ma rates the competition as the most important in the world Become an expert on table tennis with our infographic "[The other competitions are] not in the same level, the Olympics is the top level," he said Ma needs to add an Olympic gold medal to his World Cup and world championship titles in order to complete the coveted grand slam   Given how difficult it is for Chinese players to make it onto the team, there is no guarantee 28-year-old Ma will get another chance to cement his place in table tennis history – and perhaps to earn a more flattering nickname "When I was young (I was) a little bit fatty around the face, my team-mates always called me this," he said The table tennis events at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be staged from 6 to 17 August All matches will be played in Pavilion 3 of Rio Centro, near Barra Olympic Park and tickets can be bought here