Archives of Peking University News - PKU English - 北京大学

北京大学英语新闻网/Peking University News
PKU Ping-pong Delegation Visits the
USA
PKU NEWS 2006--12--16
http://ennews.pku.edu.cn/news.php?s=166280911
Peking University, Beijing, December 12, 2006: On the eve of the 35th anniversary
of Sino-US ―Ping Pong Diplomacy‖, the table tennis delegation of PKU, invited by the
Table Tennis Association of USA, visited US from 22nd, Nov to 4th, Dec and took
part in the North America Ping-pong Game held in Baltimore from Nov. 24 to 26.
The Delegation also visited Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),
Yale, Princeton and Wellesley, exchanging information with Physical Training
Centers and related departments of the 5 universities on Physical education and
sports facilities management, etc.
After taking the second place of Group A (technically speaking, Group A is the top
level), and winning the champion of Group B in the North America Ping-pong Game,
the Delegation performed on an Exhibition Match entitled ―Promote the Friendship
between the USA and China, Prepare for the Beijing Olympics‖ in the U.N.
headquarters in New York.
The Delegation also took part in a series of other Games organized by several table
tennis clubs of the USA, such as the table tennis Club of Maryland, the Shelton
Ping-pong Club, the Alpha Ping-pong Club in Los Angeles. Through these matches,
Ping Pong techniques are exchanged; new fields of cooperation explored and each
side got a better understanding of the other.
The visit was supported by domestic entrepreneurs, Alumni in the US, the Chinese
embassy in the United States and the North America Ping-pong Association. In
particular, the whole visiting program was sponsored with the generous help of a
domestic entrepreneur who is also very fond of Ping Pong. The New York PKU
Alumni Association, after hearing of the construction of Olympic Ping Pong
Gymnasium at PKU, started a new round of donation for the chairs in the new
building.
The PKU Ping Pong Delegation‘s visit to US also attracted attention of the Media.
The story was widely covered by some major mass media of the world. Heads of the
delegation, Lianggeliang and Liuwei, were under the spotlight. Liang, an eye-witness
of ―Ping Pong Diplomacy‖ and Liu, now executive manager of PKU Ping Pong Club,
are both former World Champion of Ping Pong.
701