Ding Song (; born 1971) is a former male

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

player, he is famous due to his eccentric "modern defensive" style. He is best known for having defeated Peter Karlsson in the men's team final of the

World Table Tennis Championships The World Table Tennis Championships are table tennis competitions sanctioned by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The World Championships have been held since 1926, biennially since 1957. Five individual events, which include men ...

in 1995, thereby securing China's final victory. He also made it to the men's single semifinals before eventually losing to teammate

Kong Linghui Kong Linghui (; born October 18, 1975) is a male Chinese table tennis player. He competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics, as well as in the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics. In 1996, Kong won the gold medal in the men's doubles co ...

, who is skilled in defeating defensive players. Ding Song is distinguished from other "traditional" defensive players by his unreasonably frequent and powerful

counterattack A counterattack is a tactic employed in response to an attack, with the term originating in "war games". The general objective is to negate or thwart the advantage gained by the enemy during attack, while the specific objectives typically seek ...

s, almost as aggressive as offensive players, although sometimes he also confuses his opponents with oddly spinning chops just like other choppers. He retired from the Chinese team after the 1997 WTTC. After playing in German leagues for a few years, Ding Song returned to China in 2003 and played in the China Table Tennis Super League till 2007. He also entered Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2006, majoring in

human resource management Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

. In June 2009 he received a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

, and started working in SJTU as the coach of the university's team. He is not to be confused with Ding Sǒng 丁悚 (1891-1972), the famous Chinese cartoonist: see :zh:丁悚.

References

1971 births Living people Chinese male table tennis players Table tennis players from Shanghai {{PRChina-tabletennis-bio-stub

See also

References