Group photo of guests and players
In order to continue to promote table tennis around the world, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has designated April 23 as World Table Tennis Day (WTTD). World-leading table tennis players who are participating in WTT Champions Macao 2023 presented by Galaxy Entertainment Group participated in a related promotional activity this morning at Ruins of St. Paul’s.
Distinguished guests attending the activity include: Petra Sörling, ITTF President; Liu Guoliang, ITTF Deputy President, WTT Board Chair and Chinese Table Tennis Association President; Steve Dainton, ITTF Group Chief Executive Officer; Matt Pound,WTT Managing Director; Pun Weng Kun, President of the Sports Bureau; Buddy Lam, Executive Vice President of Public Relations of Corporate Office of Galaxy Entertainment Group; and O I Chau, Vice Chairman of the Macau Table Tennis General Association. Players Fan Zhendong, Liang Jingkun, Lin Shidong, Alexis Lebrun, Félix Lebrun, Sun Yingsha, Wang Yidi, Chen Xingtong, Qian Tianyi, and Zhu Sibing, plus members of the Macao Youth Table Tennis Academy and Macau Special Olympics took part in interactive games together with the guests.
Since the inaugural WTT event in Macao in 2020, this international table tennis event is being held in Macao for the fourth year. Coinciding with final day of WTT Champions Macao 2023 presented by Galaxy Entertainment Group, staging this WTTD activity fully demonstrated the support and trust of ITTF and WTT in hosting international table tennis events and promoting table tennis in Macao.
Macao has been committed to the training, development and popularization of table tennis. Through establishing the Macao Youth Table Tennis Academy, organizing summer activities and supporting sports associations in training and pathway development, more young people are able to participate in table tennis sport. In addition, table tennis facilities have been set up in different sports venues in Macao to allow residents to exercise and experience the fun of table tennis.
The theme of this year's WTTD is “Think Sustainably, Act Now”, with the aim to highlight the need of ITTF to promote sustainable development. WTTD celebrates the joy of playing table tennis for fun, bringing people together, focusing less on competition and more on participation and enjoyment.
In the future, Macao will continue to optimize training conditions and environment for athletes, actively coordinate and support sports associations, and organize sport-for-all activities for people of different age groups. At the same time, local enterprises and organizations are encouraged to hold high-level sporting events to promote the development of sports and its industry in Macao.
