Michael Maze, the mercurial Dane

Michael Maze was born in Fakse, Denmark, on September 1, 1981. He is currently ranked nineteenth in the world, with 12,002 points. The best period in the table tennis career of Michael Maze was in 2005, when he reached the semifinals of the 48th World Championships in Shanghai. He reached the highest ranking in his life, moving up to the 12th place in June 2005. However, he had slipped in the rankings steadily after that. In March 2007, he had dropped to 24th place but had fought back to climb to 19th in April 2007. Michael Maze is one of top left-hand players in the game. He plays an offensive game, with lot of speed, power and spin. Table tennis blade makers Butterfly had designed a special blade in his name, Butterfly Michael Maze Arylate/Carbon.

It is a 7-ply blade with 5 wood and 2 Arylate/Carbon layers. The Arylate/Carbon layers help in the reduction of vibration when the ball impacts the blade. This provides the player with lot of control so that the speed and spin could be varied.

At the Volkswagen 48th World Championships in Shanghai in 2005, Michael Maze was in the limelight when came back from a 3-0 deficit in the quarterfinals against Hao Shuai to take the match 4-3. The steely resolve of Michael Maze was evident in the epic encounter. Earlier, in the final sixteen, he had overcome another Chinese player Wang Hao. In the semifinals, he was facing Ma Lin. In the previous year, he had played 3 matches against Ma Lin, but had lost all of them. The first was at the Volkswagen Open Singapore in the quarterfinals, second was at the Volkswagen Open Japan in the last sixteen, and the third was at the Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand Prix in December 2004.

On May 6, 2005 in Shanghai, Ma Lin surged ahead in the first game but Michael Maze leveled at 6-all. Still, Ma Lin took the game at 11-7. In the second game, Michael Maze took a 6-4 lead with an attacking game, mixed with heavily spun forehands into Ma Lin’s backhand. However, Ma Lin counterattacked, inducing errors from the Dane, to take the game at 11-6. In the third game also, Michael Maze went to a 6-4 lead and a keen tussle ensued, with a few incredible shots played by both of them. The score was level at 8-all. Ma Lin then proved the better player, taking the game at 11-9. In the fourth game, Ma Lin surged to a 8-3 lead but the Dane fought back with all his strength to come close to Ma Lin at 8-9. Ma Lin executed a beautiful drop shot to go to 10-8. Michael Maze served and won the next point. However, Ma Lin won the next point to take game at 11-9 and the match at 4-0. Despite the strong show, Michael Maze was forced to be content with a bronze in the Shanghai Men’s Singles Championships.