Table tennis dates back to England in the 1800s but the Chinese are truly the ones who take the sport to the next level. Now, they are not just focusing on honing their craft and winning more medals but bringing the sport to a wider audience. Marvellous 12 the Chinese selection meet for World Championships first launched in 2017, has incited a new wave of table tennis boom in China. Could this be the future of table tennis?
Here's a documentary about China's take on the innovations of raising the commercial profile of table tennis among the masses. The documentary is produced by Tencent Sports, the co-organizer of the Marvellous 12 tournament, and we have translated it into English for you. You may also want to catch up the best moments of the Marvellous 12 tournament here. Enjoy!
More Commercialized Tournaments Coming Up
Last year, T2 teamed up with ITTF to try out table tennis innovations and unveil the commercial value of the sport by launching tournaments with a new twist. The upcoming T2 Diamond is a three-leg table tennis tournament which includes unique features such as a time limit of 24 minutes and the Fast5 format (played in additional games after 24 minutes) in attempt to provide a fast-flowing game. Along with the innovative rules of the tournament, T2 Diamond has an attractive total prize purse of $1.5 million across the three events and will be awarding additional ITTF World Ranking points to players according to their standings of each leg. The tournament has attracted Olympic champions, World champions and many established world-class athletes to take part in the event. The first leg of the tournament will be held from 18-21 July in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Live streaming is available on itTV and Youtube. For more information check T2 Diamond's official website here.
The long term impact of such innovation remains to be seen. But for now, the emerge of commercialized table tennis tournaments may be the next step towards the continuing growth of a sport that is on the up. Tell us your visions on commercialized table tennis tournaments in the comment box below. We look forward to hearing about your innovations!
Last Words
Like many other table tennis enthusiasts, I will be very much interested in watching the T2 Diamond but given that I may not have the time following every match from the tournament, I don't think I will be able to cover the event on this blog. Fortunately, there will be quite some English media out there covering the tournament so it should be pretty easy for you to find information on T2 Diamond's official website here.
That being said, I'm not going to be a couch potato in the coming weeks. Articles regarding the 2019 Chinese Nationals which is scheduled from 23 July to 2 August and the second Olympic qualifier, the 2019 Pan Am Games to be held from 4-10 August will be published in the following weeks. Follow the blog to make sure you won't miss our latest updates!
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