为迎接2012伦敦奥运会、鼓励市民多运动，本月将会有100张乒乓球桌出现在伦敦街头，游客和市民可以随时进行一场露天的乒乓球比赛。这个街头推广活动名为“乒”，是由非营利组织“唱响伦敦”联手英国乒乓球协会共同推出的，同时由英格兰体育委员和雅虎分别提供资金支持和赞助。“乒”活动的内容主要为：在伦敦地标性建筑内摆放总计100张乒乓球桌、在英国图书馆举办“乒乓文学小测试”，以及在巴比肯艺术中心举办“奇幻乒乓”展览等。该活动的启动仪式将在伦敦圣潘克勒斯国际火车站举行。届时，英国奥运军团以及前乒乓球世界冠军盖亭都将出席，同时还会有跑酷、街舞以及乒乓歌曲表演。此次活动在伦敦将持续四周的时间，范围将覆盖特拉法加广场、摄政公园以及西斯罗机场三号航站楼等地标性建筑。伦敦活动结束后，“乒”活动将前往其它四个城市巡回开展，并将于2012年回到伦敦。
Londoners and tourists will get the chance to play open-air table tennis at city landmarks this month in a campaign to get a million more people playing sports in the run up to the 2012 London Olympics.
The street project, entitled Ping, will see 100 tables around the capital. It has been created by non-profit organization Sing London in association with the English Table Tennis Association, funded by Sport England and sponsored by Yahoo.
"Table tennis has wide appeal, and I hope thousands of people will take advantage of these outdoor tables," said Sport England's Chief Executive Jennie Price.
London mayor Boris Johnson is helping to promote the campaign after claiming at Beijing's 2008 Olympics that ping-pong was invented in Victorian Britain, originally called "whiff whaff".
"The French looked at a dining table and saw an opportunity to have dinner," he said at the time.
"We looked at a dining table and saw an opportunity to play whiff-whaff."The launch, at London's St Pancras International where trains arrive from Paris and Brussels, will feature both the UK Olympic team and ex world champion Jean-Philippe Gatien as well as Parkour, a "ping-popping dance" and a "ping-pong song".
Ping! will also appear in other London landmarks including Trafalgar Square, Regent's Park, the Tate Britain and Heathrow's Terminal 3.
Ping-pong fever will also be aimed at different areas of the public, with a "Literary Ping Pong Quiz" at the British Library and surreal ping-pong in the Barbican arts center.
Three thousand table tennis bats have been bought for Ping!, which is planned to last four weeks before moving on to four other cities and then returning to London in 2012.
"Ping-pong is a game that is inclusive, withstands age barriers and cultural divides and makes people smile," said Colette Hiller, Sing London's creative director. |