Sports equipment manufacturer Tibhar has signed on as the first sponsor of the soon-to-be-launched T2 Asia-Pacific Table Tennis League (T2 APAC).
Tibhar has agreed a multi-year deal to become the official rubber partner of the league, the inaugural edition of which will take place in Hong Kong from July to December.
Tibhar will benefit from season-long activations and out-of-competition engagement with players as part of the agreement. Organisers said the sponsorship package represents a ground-breaking first for the sport of table tennis and is premised on digital articulation via highly-stylised adaptive content that will be rolled-out across customised multimedia campaigns.
“Table tennis is the heart and soul of our business, and we are committed to playing a key part in bringing the sport to a whole new level,” Tibhar managing director Roland Berg said. “The unique concept and format of T2 Asia Pacific allows us to do just that, and we look forward to presenting our latest and exclusive rubber technologies to a much wider audience.”
Details of the T2 APAC, which has been officially recognised by the International Table Tennis Federation, the Asian Table Tennis Union and the Hong Kong Table Tennis Association, were first revealed in October. The league will showcase a number of innovative features such as the virtual T2 Arena, ultra-slow-motion presentation, a player draft system, a time limit for each match and a unique scoring system.
The men’s and women’s competitions will each feature 12 of the world’s best competitors. Players that have committed to competing in this year’s league include current women’s world No.5 Feng Tianwei (pictured) of Singapore, and men’s world No.8 Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus.
The event has been billed as the richest professional competition on the table tennis calendar and will feature a prize pool of $1.5m (€1.4m).