Chinese brands make Olympic table tennis, and "national sports" achieve a small-ball economy

Image source: Visual China

Blue Whale News, July 31 (Reporter Wang Hanyi) On the evening of July 30, in the mixed doubles final of table tennis at the Paris Olympics, Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha defeated the North Korean combination Lee Jung-sik/Kim Qin-young 4-2 and won the mixed doubles gold medal in table tennis.

In fact, as early as July 27, the table tennis competition of the Paris Olympics kicked off in Hall 4 of the South Paris Arena. It is worth noting that in addition to the venue itself being "made in France", the "color-changing" rainbow table, the table tennis ball that jumps the arena, and the green and low-carbon environmentally friendly rubber are all from "Made in China".

The official table tennis table for the Paris Olympics is made by the Shanghai brand Double Happiness; The official designated ball for the competition is produced by Guangzhou Pisces Sporting Goods Group; The sports floor of the table tennis hall is made of SES new rubber material developed by Hebei Yinglio Sporting Goods Co., Ltd., which is 100% recyclable.

Wei Jigang, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council of China, said in an interview with the media that the arena of international sports events is not only an arena for athletes, but also a stage to show the innovation of sports equipment and the ability of international leading standards.

After a lapse of 16 years, "Pisces" has reappeared

As the most important sports equipment for table tennis events - table tennis, this event selected Pisces PAR40+ three-star table tennis.

The ball adopts the manufacturing technology of "hemispherical one-time molding" and "precision injection molding", and the new ABS polymer material selected makes the table tennis ball have the characteristics of higher "roundness" and lower "deformation". On the basis of the ITTF ball standard, the elastic tolerance is reduced to less than 4 mm, the weight tolerance is reduced to 0.015 grams, and the hardness and roundness tolerance are reduced to less than 0.05 mm.

In addition, through 15 self-developed automatic detection processes such as light control technology testing and weighers with gold scale technology, various playing styles and movement tracks in table tennis are comprehensively simulated, and then combined with manual screening, the best 3 to 5 are selected out of 100 balls, so as to "hold a certificate" in the Olympic Games.

According to the data of Guangzhou Light Industry Group, 35,000 "Pisces" table tennis balls have been sent to the banks of the Seine, ready to be "sent" at the South Paris Arena, and the Chinese time-honored brand "Pisces" after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, after 16 years, appeared as the exclusive supplier of table tennis for the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.

"Competition is the most powerful way to test the quality of table tennis." According to the person in charge of the Dongguan production base of Guangzhou Pisces Sporting Goods Group, Pisces also "swam" out of the sea and became the designated ball for many international events.

According to its official data, with the opportunity of the Olympic Games, "Pisces" has accelerated the pace of internationalization, and its products have been exported to 15 countries and regions around the world, and overseas orders have increased by about 20%.

In addition, Pisces also brought a new auxiliary device, the "Referee Ball Machine", which made its Olympic debut as a new assistant to the referees, helping the referees to pick up the ball and throw it to the service player. This ball machine is built into the referee's table to address the rhythm control and uncertainty of the traditional hand-tossed serve in the tournament.

According to the Blue Whale News reporter, this ball machine is easy to operate, the referee only needs to touch the button, the ball can be accurately launched from the two service holes under the referee's table, with a very small error (within 1 cm) to fall in the designated area, the whole process only takes one or two seconds, effectively improving the fluency and fairness of the game.

The annual production and sales volume exceeds 60 million, accounting for nearly 40% of the market

Founded in 1954, Pisces Sports drew inspiration from the tradition of boiling dumplings at the Polo Temple to create the first table tennis ball. With the introduction of hard table tennis, Pisces not only emerged in the domestic table tennis world, but also crossed national borders with its excellent quality and became the official ball of world-class events. Table tennis has only been introduced to China for a short century, and in this century, the Pisces brand has been closely associated with Chinese table tennis for 70 years.

It is understood that from the 80s of the last century to the present, Pisces brand table tennis and table tennis tables have been used in international events such as the World Championships, the World Cup, and the Olympic Games more than 60 times, realizing the "Grand Slam" of the three major table tennis events.

Wang Xiaodong, chairman of Pisces Sporting Goods Group Co., Ltd., said: "A time-honored brand is a historical memory, table tennis has only been introduced to China for a hundred years, but Pisces has been fortunate to accompany this national sport for 70 years. The footprints of Pisces reflect the historical process of Chinese table tennis, and its change and development are the witnesses of the continuous progress of the sports industry in New China.

According to the official release of the People's Government of Machong Town, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, more than 90% of the world's table tennis is "Made in China", most of which are covered by Guangzhou Double Fish and Shanghai Red Double Happiness. At present, the annual production and sales volume of Pisces table tennis exceeds 60 million, accounting for nearly 40% of the national table tennis market. In other words, 4 out of every 10 table tennis balls sold in the market are made by "Pisces".

The Blue Whale News reporter noticed that the balls used in the Paris match have been sold at the official flagship store of "Pisces". The first selling table tennis in the store is a large and affordable 60 yuan 100 V40 + no planet, 70 yuan 100 V40 + one planet in bulk, followed by the second and third places are the Paris Olympics commemorative ball 66 yuan gold version 5 and 55 yuan international competition special three-star 6.

The official customer service of Pisces told the Blue Whale News reporter that because it is an officially designated ball, the quality is higher, so the price will be slightly more expensive. It was on the shelves before the Olympics, it has its own factory, and it is currently selling well. In addition, there are portraits of athletes Lin Gaoyuan and Liu Shiwen table tennis in the store, and many fans support the purchase.

Affected by the event, table tennis "turned red"

As China's "national sport", table tennis enjoys a high reputation and a wide base of people at home and abroad. In recent years, with the holding of various table tennis events and the outstanding performance of mainland table tennis players in international competitions, this sport has once again become the focus of public attention, and there has been a phenomenon of "turning red".

According to Xiaohongshu data, as of August last year, the number of notes searching for the word "ping pong" was staggering, exceeding 1.15 million, and it is still growing rapidly every month, with more than 1.3 billion views on the #乒乓球# topic.

Xiaohongshu said that the popularity of table tennis in the Xiaohongshu community was found in both offline activities and site data. "In the first half of the Urbancore sports market, there were users playing in front of every table tennis table all the time, and even queued up. At that time, because of the topic #Mass base has to be national table tennis#, it was on the hot search on Weibo. At the same time, we have also noticed that in the past six months, offline table tennis activities organized by many brands have also frequently attracted onlookers. The analysis of the data on the site also confirms this, and in the past six months, table tennis-related notes have grown rapidly in Xiaohongshu, and many outdoor and sports bloggers have begun to go out to play table tennis on weekends. ”

In addition, Xiaohongshu also cooperated with the professional table tennis brand Double Happiness to release the "Practical Guide to Table Tennis", which combines sports trends to present more down-to-earth popular content.

According to ATP convenience stores, the trend of table tennis is an important trend that attracts young people now. Among them, Xuperman, a table tennis education and experience brand, is committed to bringing table tennis to life and "socializing", integrating table tennis into urban life through innovative space design and activities.

"Social attributes are important." Sports enthusiasts at a stadium in Beijing told Blue Whale News that in addition, table tennis will also evoke childhood memories, and this nostalgia prompts them to rejoin the sport as adults.

The manager of the standard Nerds Club (SNC), an artistic table tennis community, also mentioned that his choice of table tennis as a starting point is actually very simple, because everyone has loved table tennis since childhood. 70% of the staff of the SNC team have trained in table tennis when they were young, and there are also many retired professional athletes.

Experts say that the results of the Paris Olympics will undoubtedly affect the public's love for the sport, and winning a medal can increase exposure and make more people interested in participating. At the same time, however, the sustainability of the table tennis boom still needs to be considered, and how to ensure the long-term popularity of the sport through education, policy support and marketing strategies is a long-term proposition worth considering.