China defeated Germany at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in Chengdu on October 9. Qiu Dang, who led Team Germany, has certainly caught the attention of many people.

Qiu comes from a family with a strong table tennis tradition for three generations. Qiu's father Qiu Jianxin was a table tennis player trained in Nantong City of Jiangsu Province.

Zhang Jin, secretary general of the Nantong Table Tennis Association and an international referee, once trained together with him. Zhang said Qiu Jianxin started playing table tennis because of the influence of his father in 1970s and it's really a family of table tennis enthusiasts.

Qiu Jianxin's career peaked at the 1987 Summer Universiade as he won 3 gold medals in men's singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Later Qiu went to Japan and Germany.

(CFP Photo)

Qiu Dang, the German table tennis player of Chinese ancestry became the winner of the men's singles at WTT Contender in Lima, a victory that helped him reach world No. 10 in the ITTF world ranking. He also became the European singles champion in August.

Zhang also said Qiu Dang's playing style, the penhold grip, is very effective and he can become more competitive if his performance is more stable.