Group photo at the 5th 'Si Yuan Cup' Table Tennis Tournament
20/2/2017
In celebration of the Chinese New Year and its 10th Anniversary, the Nottingham Confucius Institute (NCI) organised the 5th Si Yuan Cup Table Tennis Tournament, which took place on Sunday 29th January at the Harvey Hadden Sports Village in Nottingham. Jointly organised by the Si Yuan Ping-Pong Club and Rally Bridge, the event attracted 88 contestants, who travelled from as far afield as Birmingham, Coventry, London and Newcastle to compete at the event.
The tournament began with some words of inspiration from Dr Jinrong Meng, Co-Director of NCI, Jason Feehily, Head of Director-Knowledge Exchange-Asia, University of Nottingham and Craig Weaver, Headmaster of Carlton Le Willows Academy, a Nottingham based secondary school specialising in Table Tennis. The speeches were followed by a spectacular Tai Chi performance by Da Taiji Group, a local group crewed by staff members and students from NCI, University of Nottingham, Alderman White School and local residents.
The tournament ran from mid morning to late afternoon, with contestants competing in either the Open Championship (for advanced players) or the Social Tournament (for less advanced players). The Open Championship was also divided into men’s and women’s singles categories with group and elimination stages.
In the Men's Open Championship, top seeded player Shi Guang experienced a sudden and surprise elimination at quarter-finals by the fifth seeded player Lee Haoran (Ho Yin Lee), Lee then losing in the semi-finals to Nigerian player Adeoye Adewale. Adam Harrison from the University of Nottingham's Table Tennis Club, lost in the other semi-finals (1:2) to Nigerian player Ismaila Akindiya, who is now studying at Nottingham Trent University. The final took place between Akindiya and Adewale, with the former winning 3:1. Harrison came third.
The Women’s Open Championship semi-finals were dominated by Chinese players. They included Liu Haoyu from the University of Nottingham, a Deng Ya Ping Scholarship holder and a winner of the BUCS Table Tennis Individual Championships 2016-17 (mixed double), Li Weiqi from Birmingham University, Wang Qiuxian from Coventry University, and Zhang Wufei, from the Chinese community. The final winner was Liu, with Li and Wang reaching second and third place respectively.
At the closing ceremony, trophies and certificates were presented to the medallists and event volunteers by Sandar Deaton, Chairman of Table Tennis England, Mark Taffler head of Commercial of Table Tennis England, and Dr Bin Wu, Founder of the Si Yuan Ping-Pong Club and Senior Researcher at the University of Nottingham.
Alongside the tournament, the organisers also offered free table tennis taster sessions to children and local residents. Over 30 participants registered and tried their hand at China's national sport. Many of them said they enjoyed it very much and were grateful for the opportunity offered. The Si Yuan Cup tournament began in 2013. This year’s tournament was an unprecedented success in terms of the scale of the event, number of contestants and breadth of interest. According to the registration records, around 40% of the 88 contestants were university and secondary school students, 15% academic staff or teachers from universities and schools, and 45% from the wider community. They represented ten nationalities including British, Chinese, Thai, German, Iranian, Malaysian, Nigerian and South Korean etc.
“We were all brought together here by Table Tennis. It was amazing to see so many people enjoy playing the national sport of China. It is a part of Chinese culture that NCI is committed to promoting”, said Dr Jinrong Meng. “We hope more and more people fall in love with this sport and get to know more about China” she added.
~ENDS~
This event was also reported by European Times in Chinese (欧洲时报) and can be accessed here.
Posted on Friday 24th February 2017