Kaufmann defends German title as Qiu claims third singles crown

German table tennis left Erfurt with something bigger than two trophies: a clearer pecking order. Annett Kaufmann held off world No. 9 Sabine Winter in a 4-3 women’s final, and Dang Qiu backed up his status with a 4-1 win over Patrick Franziska, a result that says as much about current German strength as any ranking list.

The LOTTO Thüringen TT-Finals again turned Messe Erfurt into the center of the domestic game, with the third edition of the German Table Tennis Finals format spread across four days and built around six national championships under one roof. Roughly 1,100 participants took part, and the week delivered the kind of elite-level pressure that national selection arguments are built on.

Kaufmann’s win mattered because it felt like a statement, not a slip through the draw. The 19-year-old defended her women’s singles title against Winter, then completed a double by teaming with Xiaona Shan to beat Winter and Yuan Wan 3-1 in the women’s doubles final. She has made a habit of delivering on big domestic stages, and this one carried extra weight because Winter had been the player many expected to push the race the other way. Kaufmann’s rise has not come out of nowhere either: ITTF has already profiled her as a right-handed player who trained to play left-handed, a teenager who has won Olympic matches and claimed European youth gold.

Qiu’s path was less dramatic but just as telling. He dropped only one game on the way to the title, then handled Franziska 4-1 to secure his third German singles crown after previous victories in 2022 and 2023. With Qiu ranked No. 10, Franziska No. 18 and Winter No. 9 in the latest world lists, the finals in Erfurt did not just crown national champions. They reinforced who sits at the top of Germany’s current table tennis hierarchy.

The depth behind those names showed up elsewhere too. Andre Bertelsmeier and Wim Verdonschot rallied from two games down and saved multiple match points to retain the men’s doubles title against Franziska and Ricardo Walther, while the program also included a historic mixed doubles debut. The mixed doubles final on June 7 was played in front of a sold-out crowd, and both final days drew about 3,000 spectators apiece, with around 8,000 tickets sold over the four days. Erfurt did not merely host championships. It delivered a domestic checkpoint where Kaufmann’s ascent and Qiu’s authority both looked real.