Ping-pong playing senior citizen enjoys retirement through sports

With a ping-pong paddle in his left hand, grandpa Li Weixin is in a counterattack posture.

In a ping-pong room in the Yinchuan labor union building in Ningxia Hui autonomous region, Li is practicing ping-pong, which is part of his daily routine.

"Playing ping-pong requires physical flexibility and quick wit, and many say it makes me look much younger," the 70-year-old said. "I always buy tickets, take trains and find hotels by myself when playing ping-pong matches across the country."

Ping-pong, a sport beloved and played nationwide in China, is often etched in the childhood memories of ordinary Chinese, and Li is no exception. Li started playing Ping-pong at the age of 10.

"Lack of a ping-pong table and expensive ping-pong paddles couldn't cut off our passion at all. We used to put two desks together and hold a book or a brick to catch the ball," Li recalled.

With a gift for ping-pong, Li was selected to be a member of the regional teenage ping-pong team.

"I often took part in competitions at the provincial and national level on behalf of my hometown," he said.

Li's passion for ping-pong never faded away even though he dropped the paddle for several years due to being busy with work. In the 1980s, encouraged by his company, Li played a match on behalf of Yinchuan City, and was crowned champion, and since then, his confidence has been ignited again.

Especially when he retired, most of his time was spent beside the ping-pong table. "I practice ping-pong in this room at least 5 hours every day, and it has become a part of my life now," said Li.

Two paddles, a vacuum cup and a set of sport suits is all Li packs when he travels to different competitions across the county. He has filled a wall-sized glass-frame cabinet with trophies.

"I have gone through several paddles, because some of my fans often ask me for them as a blessing," said Li.

When a competition was held in central China's Henan province in 2015, he won the first national championship of his age group.

At that time, Li's local team was not as famous as others and few of his teammates could survive to the final round. "I could feel the disdain from opponents," which still makes him upset even now.

"I felt lonely and stressful, and I kept encouraging myself to try my best and fight for my hometown. The moment I scored five points in a row to win the championship, my eyes were filled with tears," he said.

Li decided to pass his skills along to the next generation. He is currently the coach of five kids.

"I often find some good players, and I hope they can keep ping-pong going as a life-long sport, because they will definitely benefit from it one day," said Li.