Drinkhall now has China in his hand; TABLE TENNIS.

TEESSIDE'S national champion Paul Drinkhall has recorded the best win of his career so far by winning the Under 21 singles at the China Open in Su Zhou.

The 19-year-old European Youth triple champion added another major scalp to his list of titles by beating Chinese Taipei's Hung-Chieh Chiang in the final by 4-3.

The win brought a major bonus because he was immediately signed up to play for top team Fujin in the Chinese League First Division.

Not everything went according to plan for the Loftus teenager but he stuck to his guns to force his way through the early rounds.

He beat France's No.1 Romain Lorentz 4-3 before beating another Chinese player Ti-Tse Wang 4-0 in the semi-final.

In the final he used his Chinese style forehand loop to devastating effect, keeping Chiang on the defensive and not allowing his opponent to take advantage.

He told the English Table Tennis Association website: "I didn't start too well but the further I got the more confident I got.

"I've had some good wins recently but this tops the lot.

"To win a title like this in the world's top event is brilliant." Drinkhall's coach Steen Hansen added: "Paul has been threatening to win one of the world top events for some time and this win will have given his confidence a real boost.

"And now to be playing in the Chinese League among the world top players just shows how much the Chinese players admire him." It was the first ITTF Pro Tour win of Paul's career and only the second time in the 13-year history that an English player has won gold on the ITTF Pro Tour.

Drinkhall will now fly out to Singapore to take on some of the world's top players aiming to take a step closer to his aim of winning a medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Paul plays most of his league table tennis in Germany, and will next year compete for Pluderhausen..