China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Table tennis championships to further Chengdu’s legacy as sports hub
The opening ceremony of the Chengdu 2022 World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals kicks off on Thursday in Chengdu, Sichuan province.
With the slogan “Celebrating Table Tennis With Chengdu”, the event will run from Friday to Oct 9, boosting the city’s reputation as a hub for sports and attracting fans from around the world.
Chengdu has hosted a series of high-level events including the International Table Tennis Federation Men’s World Cup, the ITTF Women’s World Cup and the ITTF World Tour. As the host city of this year’s competition, Chengdu has deep roots in table tennis.
In the 1988 Seoul Olympics, table tennis was added to the Olympic Games for the first time. Chengdu local Chen Longcan teamed up with Wei Qingguang to win the men’s doubles championship, the first Olympic gold medal won by the Chinese national table tennis team.
In recent years, Chengdu has continued to popularize and promote the sport. More than 3 million citizens participate in table tennis year-round, and a large number of outstanding athletes have been trained for the national team.
Chengdu has been awarded as the merit city for outstanding contributions to table tennis by the ITTF and the Chinese Table Tennis Association.
The city has also become one of the key national table tennis training bases.
Since 2011, when the Chinese women’s table tennis team first came to Chengdu for preparation of the World Table Tennis Championships in Rotterdam, national table tennis teams at all levels have viewed the city as a major training base. As a famous cultural hub with 4,500 years of civilization and more than 2,300 years of city-building
history, Chengdu also boasts a large number of world-renowned cultural resources such as the giant panda, Sichuan cuisine and facechanging technique in Sichuan Opera.
When the world’s top table tennis players gather here, they will not only compete for the highest honor in the competition, but also
witness and participate in the integration of Tianfu culture and table tennis.
This year’s competition features the cultural elements of the city.
The competition medals take pandas as the main design element and incorporates the image of the Chengdu flower hibiscus along with the Sun Bird of the Jinsha archaeological site in Chengdu. The emblem of the competition fully shows the contemporary value of Tianfu culture.
During the competition, organizers will also prepare cultural exchange activities with 15 themes in three scenarios for guests.
They can experience the Jinsha archaeological site by means of metaverse technology and appreciate the charm of the ancient Shu civilization 3,000 years ago.
They can also set foot on the sports greenway, enjoy the ecological livability of the park city, watch face-changing performance, wear hanfu, tradional Chinese attire, and listen to the music.
Visitors can also experience intangible cultural heritage projects such as paper-cutting, Shu embroidery, Mianzhu New Year pictures and Chinese knots.
Chengdu has put forward the goal of becoming a world famous sports event city in recent years.
Data show that during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), Chengdu has successfully held 99 high-level international sports events.
In 2019, the city held the 18th World Police and Firefighters Games.
Chengdu also successfully won the honor to host the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, the 2024 Thomas and Uber Cup and the 2025 World Games.
The holding of international sports events will help Chengdu to further expand its urban development, improve its urban functions and upgrade its infrastructure.
In recent years, Chengdu has promoted the construction of largescale sports venues such as Tianfu Olympic Sports Park, Dongan Lake Sports Park, and Phoenix Mountain Sports Park with a high standard of international vision.
Chengdu High-Tech Sports Center, the venue for the Chengdu 2022 World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals, is one of the latest achievements in the construction of Chengdu’s international comprehensive competition venue system.
Completed in 2021, the stadium is a modern, comprehensive, multifunctional and high-end stadium with a capacity of 12,000 spectators. It has undergone comprehensive tests and inspections through a number of events.
The continuous implementation of large-scale events continues to enhance Chengdu’s international influence.
In the 2019 Global Event Influence list of countries and cities released by Sportcal, the world’s leading sports market intelligence service provider, Chengdu jumped to 28th place and entered the top three in
the country.
Steady stream of competitive events enhances city’s international influence