Mays, Michael

Michael Mayes was born in the small Danish city of Fax. There he began to engage in table tennis. In junior tournaments, Mays showed very high results, three times becoming the champion of Europe among juniors. Since 1997, Maze began to be involved in the adult national team of Denmark. In 2000, Mays made his debut at the Summer Olympics . In doubles, Michael performed with Finn Tagwell . A pair from Denmark won both matches in the group stage, but already in the first round of the playoffs, Danish athletes lost to the pair from Taiwan. In 2003, Maze twice stopped a step away from the podium at the European Championships .

2004 began for Mayes very successfully. Danish tennis player for the first time in his career managed to win the prestigious Euro-Top12 tournament. In August of that year, Maze took part in the Athens Summer Olympics . In singles, Mayes lost to the athlete from Hong Kong in the first match and dropped out of the fight. In the doubles, Maze and Tagwell managed to reach the semifinals, but there they lost to the favorites of the tournament to the Chinese pair Chen Qi and Ma Lin . In a duel for bronze, the Danes met with the Russian pair of Mazuns - Smirnov . In a stubborn duel, the Danes prevailed 4: 2 and became bronze medalists of the Olympic Games. In 2005, Maze reached the semifinals of the World Cup in Shanghai , and also won the gold team championship at the European Championships . It is noteworthy that during the quarter finals of the 2005 World Cup, where the Dane played with promising Chinese Hao Shuai, the game was clearly not in favor of Mace. He lost 0-3 in batches and 7-10 in the fourth set. However, sportsmanship and extraordinary willpower helped the Dane to reverse the match and eventually win in seven sets (4-3). This game is considered the most famous win in a hopeless situation ( comeback ) In the history of world table tennis ^[3] .

In the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Mays took part only in singles, where in the first match he met with Croatian Zoran Primorats . The match was held in a bitter struggle, but the victory still went to a more titled Croat. ^[4] In 2009, Mays became one of the protagonists of the European Championship , held in Stuttgart, Germany . Michael first became the champion in singles, and then, together with the Danish team, won the silver of the continental championship. After the championship, Mayes became a little less likely to appear at major world championships, taking a little rest from table tennis.

On May 16, 2011, the names of 28 athletes were announced who, according to the ITTF rating, received Olympic licenses for the 2012 Summer Olympics . Michael Mays became 12th on this list and took part in his fourth Olympic Games. In the quarter finals of the singles Mikael lost in a bitter struggle (3: 4) to the future bronze medalist of the tournament - Dmitry Ovcharov .

On March 14, 2016, Michael Mays announced the end of his professional gaming career in connection with his state of health ^[5] .

On February 20, 2018, Michael Mays announced the return to the international arena of professional table tennis ^[6] .

Gaming

Singles

• Winner of the European Super Cup : 2010
• World Championship bronze medalist: 2005 ;
• European Champion : 2009 ;
• Bronze medalist of the European Championship : 2007 ;
• Winner of 2 ITTF Pro Tours;
• Winner of Euro-Top12 (2004);
• Champion of Europe among cadets: 1996;
• European Junior Champion: 1999;
• Multiple champion of Denmark.

Doubles

• Bronze medalist of the 2004 Summer Olympics (paired with Finn Tagwell);
• European Junior Champion: 1999;

Team tournament

• European Champion : 2005 (as part of the Danish national team);
• Bronze medalist of the European Championship : 2009 (in the national team of Denmark);

• The official website of Michael Mays
• Michael Mayes - Olympic statistics at Sports-Reference.com
• Biography on ittf.com
• Performance statistics on ittf.com (eng.)
• Rating dynamics on ittf.com (eng.)