China's world No. 2 Ding Ning beat her teammate Li Xiaoxia to win the World Cup on Sunday, making her the third player to win both the World Cup and the World Championships titles in the same year.

The balanced 21-year-old world champion won the first two sets 11-9 and 11-5 but lost the third set 7-11 against Li, who is currently the world No. 1 and the top seeded player at the World Cup.

But she made it by winning the fourth set 14-12 and finally the last set 11-8.

Ding has proved herself earlier by beating South Korean defense specialist Kim Kyung Ah in a quarterfinal on Saturday, showing that she has indeed improved a lot on her weakness in matches against defense players.

Ding lost against Kim many times earlier but has recently won against her in the Chinese table tennis league.

Ding also proved herself by coming back by winning four consecutive sets in the semifinal after losing the first set against Feng Tianwei, the world fourth ranked Singapore player who has a powerful forehand, amid the cheering of local fans.

Li Xiaoxia won against Tie Yana of Hong Kong, China to advance to the final. Tie won the bronze medal by beating Feng.

The World Cup title was a second world championship for Ding Ning, who won the World Championships earlier this year. It makes her the third player to win both titles in the same year after former top players Wang Nan and Zhang Yining.

Perhaps more importantly, it is believed to improve her chances of playing for China in the London Olympics.

The International Table Tennis Federation revised the rules to allow only two players from each country or region in either the men's singles or women's singles of the London Olympics.

China can only send two players even though the country has about half or even more of the world's best players.

Ding was not on the preliminary list of two female players from China for the London Olympics.

She said she was excited to be able to win the World Cup title by emerging from so many of the world's best players.

"I was not on the Olympic list ... So I am improving my games and getting experience from the matches. I hope I can do still better," Ding told a press conference after the match.

She said it was "natural" and not surprising that the Chinese players would have to get used to the pressure if they play for the national team.

Chinese coaches have not ruled out possibility of changes to the list of players until before the London Olympics next year.

"The changes to the quota will undoubtedly increase the challenges for China, but I believe we can make it," said Shi Zhihao, head coach of Chinese women's national team.