Table tennis legends gather in Oslo for Waldner Cup

CGTN Europe

With the slogan “Rivals United,” the first ever Waldner Cup kicks off in Norwegian capital Oslo on Thursday. A banquet was held at the city hall, with China’s six-time Olympic gold medalist Ma Long and Swedish legendary player Jan-Ove Waldner jointly leaving their handprints on the mold.   Team Asia, led by Ma Long, is facing Team World, led by Waldner himself. A number of top players – including Olympic gold medalist Chen Meng and silver medalist Truls Moregardh – are expected to compete during the weekends.   Nils Marius Otterstad, CEO of the Waldner Cup, told CGTN Europe that the top Chinese players’ participation has made the event known to millions of people around the world, and the event is expected to unite people across borders.   #WaldnerCup #Waldner #MaLong #TableTennis

Transcript

00:00This tournament brings together some of the finest table tennis players from all around

00:17the world.

00:30There were two visions.

00:49For Waldner, he wanted to make the sport bigger.

00:52He wants to compete with tennis and football and make it really a world-leading sport.

00:57And secondly, we see that because of the history of table tennis with the ping-pong

01:02diplomacy and the great profiles of the sport like Malong, like Waldner, like Chen Meng,

01:10we are speaking to millions of people that necessarily are not interested in table tennis

01:17but will be.

01:19So thereby, we think that table tennis can really unite across borders and have a good

01:26message to promote health and activity to people around the world.

01:37First of all, thank you for sending Malong.

01:40I think, again, I would say we are very proud to have this tournament over here.

01:45We have a lot of young kids just being there, watching the world-class players practice.

01:52They can see how high the level is and maybe that will inspire them to work even harder

01:59to maybe one day be in a team like this.

02:02So, for our little family here in Norway, I think this will certainly inspire a lot

02:08of young players.

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