This is Qatar’s time in global sports and the country’s commitments and investments over the years in developing sports have started yielding desirable results, Frank Ji, the Special Adviser to the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) President for commerce and business, has said.
Speaking on the sidelines of an ITTF event in Doha recently, Ji, who is also the chairman of the Seamaster Group, the title sponsor of the ITTF World Tour and a major commercial supporter of the ITTF, said, “This is Qatar’s time. Luck and favour are on the country’s side in sports and the whole world is going to know the good quality that Qatar have, especially in the build up to the FIFA World Cup in 2022. The flag of the country is flying high in global sports and the world is about to witness great things from the country.” 
He added that Qatar, under the wise leadership of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, have placed a commendable priority on sports development which has over the years put the country in a prime position among the comity of nations.
“Qatar’s commitment to sport development especially in the Middle East is unrivalled and the country’s famed acclaim as great organisers of top-notch sporting events cannot be over stated. 2022 will no doubt be a great event in Qatar and I see the country raising the bar so high that other future hosts may find it hard to meet up,” the Chinese businessman and sportsman added.
Speaking about table tennis in Qatar, Ji, who is the brain behind the T2 APAC table tennis league launched in 2016, said, “The efforts of the Qatar Table Tennis Association (QTTA) under the leadership of its president Khalil Ahmed al-Mohannadi in promoting the sport throughout the Arab region is highly commendable.
“Qatar Open is one of the only six top-tier Platinum events on the ITTF World Tour calendar and the tournament itself has been consistently held in the country since 1994, which I believe is one of the oldest annual sports events in the country. Aside from this, Qatar was the only qualifier from the region at the 2016 Rio Olympics, which was not a small feat. Qatar is doing tremendously well for our sport and I must commend the QTTA and the QOC for what they are doing.”
Ji said that his involvement with the sponsorship of table tennis was borne out of his love and passion for the game.
“Table tennis is my hobby and my passion. I’ve been involved in table tennis for many years now. We started our sponsorship with the ITTF Star Awards on 2015 before venturing into the World Tour. We are the titled sponsor for the World Tour and the Women’s World Cup in Philadelphia in the USA and we also invented the private tournament T2.”
The T2APAC (Asia – Pacific) League is a new type of table tennis competition that offers an astonishing prize pool of $1.75mn. It features a unique set of rules that promises to make the sport more exciting and bring in a new wave of fans.
Each team is named after their coach. There are four teams, with each team comprising three male players and three female players, and competition held across three categories — men’s singles, women’s singles and mixed team.
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