Tournament prize winners
16 February saw over 150 people attend the 7th Si Yuan Cup Table Tennis Tournament at the University of Nottingham’s David Ross Sports Village. 86 contestants from eight countries aged between ten and 70+ years old took part, with more than 30 people, old and young, attending the free table tennis taster session.
The event was jointly organised by Nottingham Confucius Institute, Rally Bridge and Si Yuan Pingpong Club, with support from many of our long term partners including Nottingham City Council, Ping Nottingham, Table Tennis England, Carlton Le Willows Academy, Sycamore Table Tennis Academy and CSSA Nottingham. Our special guests included Jason Feehily, Director of NCI, Dr Bin Wu, Chair and founder of Si Yuan Pingpong Club, Mike Payne, Vice President of Table Tennis England and his wife Lilian Payne, an international referee. We were honoured and delighted to have Mr and Mrs Payne work as referees during our games in the afternoon.
The tournament ran for nearly six hours from just after 10:00 am to 4:00pm, 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, second seeded player Ning Jing experienced a sudden and surprise loss to seventh seeded player Calum Morrison from the University of Nottingham’s Sports Team during group matches. He subsequently lost to third seeded player Marcus Giles, Men’s Singles Champion 2018, who was then beaten by Deng Yaping Scholarship holder Tianyuan Liu at the semi-finals. Ismaila Akindiya from Nigeria, Men’s Singles Champion 2017, won the final with an amazing performance, with Liu and Giles reaching second and third place respectively.
The Women’s Open Championship semi-finals were dominated by Chinese players. They included Diruiqi Yang from the University of Nottingham, a Deng Ya Ping Scholarship holder and winner of the BUCS Table Tennis Individual Championships 2018 (mixed doubles), Yiji Zhao from Loughborough University, Haoyu Liu, Women’s Singles Champion 2017, and JIngxuan Yi, a PhD student from the University of Nottingham’s Sports Team. The final winner was Yang, with Zhao and Liu reaching second and third place respectively.
In the Social Tournament (doubles), four students from the Carlton Le Willows Academy, Max Pateman and Joshua Smith, Ben Firth and Jamie Millward, came first and second, beating two UoN students Xiayu Ma and Jie Hong, who won third place. This is the second time Max and Joshua, just 13 and 14 years old, won the Social Tournament Championship.
The Si Yuan Cup Table Tennis Tournament began in 2013 and has now become a key event on the calendar for local sports fans. Each year has seen considerable progress ,with the 2019 tournament notable in terms of quality of contestants. The variety of participation was very encouraging. According to the registration records, 39% of the contestants were university students, 15.9% academic staff or teachers from universities and schools, and 45.1% from the wider community.
Feedback from event participants was extremely positive, with many of them saying they enjoyed the event very much and would like to take part again next year. “Sports promotes universal values that transcend language and culture. We’ve seen the power of table tennis in action at today’s tournament. We are very proud to organise this flagship community event bringing people of all ages and backgrounds together.” said Jason Feehily, NCI Director.
NCI would like to thank our co-organisers, partners, and twenty staff and student volunteers who devoted so much of their valuable time. A big thank you should also go to our sponsors Hino Travel and Yinhe Sport, who kindly provided travel products and equipment as prizes to the winners, and table tennis balls for the tournament. The event would not have been such a success without contributions from all parties.
英国诺丁汉大学孔子学院成功举办第七届“思源杯”乒乓球锦标赛
文/郭转辉 图/克 颜
2019年2月16日，正值农历正月十五前夕，英国诺丁汉大学孔子学院主办、汇桥文化体育（RallyBridge Sport Ltd.）和思源乒乓球俱乐部共同承办的第七届“思源杯”乒乓球锦标赛在英国诺丁汉大学David Ross Sports Village 成功举行。
一年一度的“思源杯”乒乓球锦标赛已在英国中东部形成了传统，借中国新春之际，不但推广中国传统及国球文化，更成为了中英体育文化交流的盛典。比赛当天阳光明媚，温度宜人。在多方途径的宣传下，本次比赛共吸引了来自英格兰中东部地区的86位参赛选手。本次比赛除吸引了华人留学生、华人教职工和社区华人华侨外，同时也吸引了包括来自泰国、尼日利亚、香港、俄罗斯、马来西亚等8个国家的参赛选手，除了比赛以外，场地内还设有体验区和教学区，当地社区居民在观看激烈比赛的同时也切身体验了乒乓球运动的魅力。这充分体现了英国诺丁汉大学孔子学院传播中华文化与交流、汇桥体育通过乒乓球增进两国友谊和思源乒乓球俱乐部助力国际留学生融入英国当地社区的理念与宗旨。
英国诺丁汉大学孔子学院经理张华主持了开幕式，由诺丁汉孔子学院外方院长詹森·费海利（Jason Feehily）及思源乒乓球俱乐部主席武斌在致开幕辞后拉开了本次乒乓球比赛的帷幕。
本次比赛分公开组和娱乐组，以先小组赛、后淘汰赛的方式进行。公开组为单打比赛，分男女组。采用五局三胜11分制。现场比赛精彩纷呈，高潮不断。公开组的队员们享受在赛场上挥洒汗水的酣畅淋漓，娱乐组则发扬“乒乓聚友谊、运动赢快乐”的运动精神 。
男子公开组二号种子荆宁在小组赛中不敌七号种子苏格兰青年一号国手、现英国诺丁汉大学乒乓球俱乐部队员卡卢姆·莫里森（Calum Morrison），导致其在淘汰赛首轮遭遇三号种子、第六届思源杯乒乓球锦标赛冠军马尔库斯·贾尔斯（Marcus Giles）而遭淘汰。马尔库斯·贾尔斯则在半决赛中输给首位男邓亚萍奖学金获得者刘天元。卢姆·莫里森则半决赛中不敌来自尼日利亚国手、第五届思源杯乒乓球锦标赛冠军伊斯梅利亚·阿肯迪亚（Ismaila Akindiya）。决赛在刘天元和伊斯梅利亚·阿肯迪亚手中展开，最终伊斯梅利亚·阿肯迪亚凭借更好的状态以3:1战胜对手赢得冠军，刘天元获得亚军，马尔库斯·贾尔斯获得第三名。
公开组女子组四强均被中国人包揽，他们分别是来自诺丁汉大学邓亚萍奖学金获得者、获得2018年全英大学生乒乓球锦标赛双打冠军的杨迪睿琪；来自英国拉夫堡大学的赵一吉，同样来自英国诺丁汉大学乒乓球队的第五届思源杯乒乓球锦标赛冠军刘昊宇；和来自诺丁汉大学乒乓球俱乐部队员英国文学博士生伊静轩。最终女子组的冠军由杨迪睿琪获得，赵一吉、刘昊宇分获二、三名。
娱乐组比赛延续新颖独特的赛制，以先“双打”后“单打”的模式展开。虽然难度加大了，但并没有减少参与者的热情。最终由卡尔顿·勒柳斯学院（Carlton le Willows Academy）的组合马克斯·彼得曼（Max Pateman）和约书亚·史密斯（Joshua Smith）蝉联娱乐组冠军，由同样来自卡尔顿中学的本·弗思（Ben Firth）和杰米·米尔沃德（Jamie Millward）获得了娱乐组亚军，来自诺丁汉大学的中国学生组合马小宇和宏杰获得了季军。
闭幕式颁奖典礼由汇桥体育首席执行官武显锋博士，思源俱乐部创始人、高级研究员、中国移民研究中心负责人武斌博士和全英大学生运动联盟副主席、乒乓球国际级一级裁判迈克·佩恩（Mike Payne）为获奖队员颁发奖金和奖品。总价值千磅的奖金和旅游产品奖品分别由颁发的奖金由汇桥体育和诺丁汉孔子学院提供，比赛用球、乒乓球球拍套脚等奖品由银河体育（YINHE）提供，旅游产品由海诺旅游（Hino Travel）倾情赞助。最后，思源俱乐部创始人武斌老师、诺丁汉孔子学院英方经理张华和汇桥体育首席执行官武显锋博士联合为本次活动的十二名志愿者颁发由诺丁汉大学孔子学院、思源乒乓球俱乐部和汇桥体育联合发布的获奖证书。
英国诺丁汉大学孔子学院主办的第七届“思源杯”乒乓球比赛圆满落幕，标志着中英人民之间除了语言及传统文化外，也在体育层面上增添了新颖的交流方式：以乒乓球为媒介，通过高水平比赛与大众娱乐赛的结合，促进了两国人民的感情增进，进一步传播中国国球文化的同时，让更多的当地人民了解了孔子学院是两国文化传播与交流的重要渠道与窗口。
Posted on Monday 18th February 2019