Chen Qi (simplified Chinese: 陈玘; traditional Chinese: 陳玘; pinyin: Chén Qǐ; born April 15, 1984) is a retired Chinesetable tennis player. He won the gold medal in men's doubles at the 2004 Summer Olympics with Ma Lin, and is the youngest male ever to hold this title at age 20. In December 2013, Chen Qi announced his retirement and became the head coach of the Jiangsu provincial table tennis team.
Chen Qi was born in Nantong, Jiangsu, where he began to receive training at Nantong Spare-time Sports School in 1990. He became a member of the provincial team at the age of 12, joined the No. 2 national team in 1999 and then the No. 1 national team in October 2002. Chen Qi became a member of the National Team at age 15.
Chen Qi is a fast attacking player and had been placed eighth in the ITTF World Men's Table Tennis ranking. From March 2006 till January 2007, he was in the sixth place. From January 2004, he had been within the top ten ranks. At the 2004 ITTF Pro TourinKobe, Japan, Chen Qi won the singles title. He had been the runner-up at the Pro Tour events in Velenje, Slovenia, in Zagreb, Qatar, and in Kuwait City, Kuwait, all in 2006. In the Pro Tour Grand Finals, he reached the quarterfinals in 2003 in Guangzhou, China, in 2004 in Beijing, China, and in 2006 in Hong Kong. At the 2004 Volkswagen Open in Kobe, Japan, Chen Qi obtained his first ever ITTF Pro Tour Men's Singles title.[1]
He also won the 2007 World Table Tennis Championships in the men's doubles with Ma Lin. He is also a successful singles player, having been consistently ranked in the world's top 10 since 2004. Chen Qi is known as one of the few top-ranked Chinese players to play left-handed.
Chen Qi has been sponsored by Killerspin www.killerspin.com since 2007.
Chen Qi's playing style is fast and aggressive, normally dominating with his forehand. Chen Qi also possesses a fast backhand which is able to control the opponent which sets up his forehand. Similarly, like Ma Long, he takes every opportunity to finish off rallies with his devastating forehand loop alongside his backhand drive. Although sponsored by Killerspin, Chen Qi does not use Killerspin equipment. He uses Stiga Rosewood NCT V blade Master Flared handle with special made blue sponge DHS Skyline 3 on forehand (black) (国家队套), and Tenergy 05-FX on backhand (red).
