To promote table tennis to all parts of the globe, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has designated April 23 as World Table Tennis Day (WTTD), the same day that the “WTT Champions Macao 2023 presented by Galaxy Entertainment Group” organized by the Sports Bureau together with World Table Tennis (WTT) and Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG), was successfully completed.

To celebrate the WTTD, Petra Sörling, President of the ITTF; Liu Guoliang, ITTF Deputy President, WTT Board Chair and Chinese Table Tennis Association President; Pun Weng Kun, President of the Sports Bureau; Buddy Lam, Executive Vice President of Galaxy Entertainment Group, as well as O I Chau, Vice Chairman of the Macau Table Tennis General Association, and many other world top-ranked table tennis players, along with members of the Macao Youth Table Tennis Academy and Macau Special Olympics, got together to celebrate this naming at the Ruins of St Paul’s in Macau, and played interactive matches in a joyful atmosphere to promote inclusive culture.

The theme of this year’s World Table Tennis Day is “Think Sustainably, Act Now”, which focuses on sustainability and aims to raise public awareness of the sustainable development of table tennis.

The ITTF pointed out that it hopes to promote the benefits of table tennis through “World Table Tennis Day”, emphasizing participation in table tennis and the fun of sports, and providing opportunities to learn about table tennis.

The Sports Bureau said that Macau will continue to optimize training conditions and the environment for athletes in the future, and actively coordinate and support local sports associations to organize different activities.

“In the future, we will continue to hold sport-for-all activities suitable for people of different ages, and at the same time encourage local enterprises and organizations to organize high-level sports events to promote sports and promote the development of sports in Macau.”

The final championship round of the event was held at the Tap Seac Stadium in the afternoon of the same day, Sunday 23 April and it attracted an audience of around 10,000. Ultimately, Chinese professional table tennis players Wang Chuqin and Wang Manyu won the men’s and women’s singles championships respectively.

After the match, Cheong Weng Chon, Acting Chief Executive of Macau; Petra Sörling, President of the ITTF; Liu Guoliang, ITTF Deputy President, WTT Board Chair and Chinese Table Tennis Association President; Yan Zhichan, Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macao SAR; Sun Xiangyang, Deputy Commissioner of the Commissioner’s Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the Macao SAR; Ao Ieong U, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao SAR; Steve Dainton, ITTF Group Chief Executive Officer, WTT Board Director; Philip Cheng, Director of Galaxy Entertainment Group; Li Ning, Founder and Chairman of Li Ning Company and Hao Linian, Ganten Group Vice General Manager together presented awards to the winning contestants.