Dubai: Last weekend’s Nakheel Table Tennis Asian Cup at the Dubai World Trade Centre was broadcast to over 280 million homes, it was announced on Wednesday.
Eight live TV channels across three continents broadcast the tournament, which was also available to non-TV markets via the International Table Tennis Federation’s Youtube.com channel.
Social media coverage of the event also reached 12.2 million and sparked more than 6,500 discussions on Chinese social networking site Weibo.
The event, which culminated in all-China finals, saw men’s defending champion Xu Xin and women’s World No 1 Liu Shiwen each claim victory over Olympic 2012 gold medallists Zhang Jike and Li Xiaoxia.
It took place just 100 days before the start of this summer’s Rio Olympics and offered players a chance to improve their rankings ahead of selection.
Dubai has sponsored the Chinese national team since 2013 and since then more than 20,000 people have taken part in a grass-roots initiative to spread the game locally called Ping Pong Dubai.
“We were delighted to once again welcome some of the world’s best table tennis players to Dubai,” said Saeed Hareb, secretary-general of Dubai Sports Council.
“The Asian Cup has been a tremendous addition to Dubai’s calendar of world-class sporting events and further strengthens the emirate’s position as a home for racquet sports,” he added.
“At [the] Dubai Sports Council, we understand the power of sport to unite cultures and Dubai has sponsored the Chinese National Table Tennis Team since 2013 — a sign of our strong links with China and commitment to supporting the growth of its national sport in the Middle East and around the world.”
