he finished fourth at chinese nationals in 2001 and only got to WCG because someone else's visa fell through

ma tianyuan finished fourth at china's WCG national finals in 2001. top three flew to seoul, so he stayed home. then the third place guy's visa got rejected and they called him back in as the spare.

the delegation landed in korea and found out there was a 2v2 bracket. nobody back home had mentioned it. hong zhefu, who was running the delegation, signed up ma tianyuan and deep on the spot because they were AG teammates who had played together before. no prep, they just entered.

they made the final against germany. it went 2-2 with over a thousand people in the hall. ma says everything after the last game is blank, and the next thing he remembers is standing on the podium holding the flag.

the prize was 6000 usd split two ways. he was 20, and his 3000 came out to about 25000 rmb back then. cctv and his hometown station ran the story on repeat, and the kid the neighbours had written off turned into the one other parents held up to their own kids.

the 2v2 event was scrapped after 2003. in singles, china's best at WCG was PJ's second place in 2007.

i interviewed him a while back and the rest of his run is stranger than this part.