Son of two pros

Table tennis talent in the footsteps of his parents

Louis Fegerl is at home at the table tennis table.(Bild: WTT)

At the age of ten, Louis Fegerl is already a world-class player. No wonder, as the talented table tennis player is the son of two-time European champion Stefan Fegerl and former top player Li Qiangbing. At first, neither of them wanted the junior to follow in their footsteps. But Louis has asserted himself and is already dreaming of the Olympics.

When you look at him, he really does look like a mixture of mom and dad. Even Louis Fegerl's haircut is the same as his father's. "Of course," he laughs, "we have the same hairdresser, namely mom."

Now the son of two-time European champion Stefan Fegerl and former top player Li Qiangbing is preparing to follow in his parents' sporting footsteps. At first, they didn't want Louis to take up table tennis. "But he really wanted to," says Stefan. What should you do? They take over the training themselves, with the parents taking turns. Because they train every day. "And by that I really mean: 365 days a year. Unless we're on a plane to China."

This bears fruit early on. The ten-year-old has played six U11 tournaments on the World Tour so far, winning four. In January, he took first place in the world rankings for his age group and is currently second. Of course, this has to be put into perspective: Chinese and Japanese players are not included in this ranking.

For Fegerl junior, school still takes priority. "Then there's only one hour of training on some days," explains Stefan, "but at least until he's 14 or 15, it's important to us that he remains a good student." After that, the sports director of the Austrian association could imagine his son moving to Germany. "I know from my own experience that the training there is much more professional." Louis himself already has clear sporting goals. "I want to play at the Olympics one day."