Ping! launches at St Pancras International Thursday 22nd July, 6.30pm – 8.00pm
Ping! – the street ping-pong event – launches at St Pancras International on Thursday 22nd July (6.30pm – 8.00pm), inviting the city to celebrate the start of a month long summer event. With tables lined up across the station concourse, the launch event will feature a series of spectacular ping-pong demonstrations that have never been seen before, including Extreme Ping Pong by Parkour UK and Ping Popping with the Westendkids. As well as offering the opportunity for free play, members of the British table tennis team will be on hand to show everyone how it’s done and those wishing to pick up some skills can engage in Champion Master Classes. The launch marks the start of Ping! – an event in which 100 ping-pong tables will pop up across London’s landmarks, squares, shopping centres, estates, offices and train stations. From Soho Square to Westfield Shopping Centre, Tate Britain to the British Library, St Pancras International to Heathrow’s Terminal 3, the tables are up for four weeks for everyone to enjoy. Ping! has been created by Sing London, the participatory arts organisation that produced last year’s Street Pianos Project. With its array of surprising locations and varied public events, Ping! makes participation irresistible.
Ping! is delivered in partnership with the English Table Tennis Association who will bring Ping! to four more cities over the next two years, returning to London for 2012.
Supported by National Lottery funding from Sport England’s Innovation Fund, Ping! aims to get more people playing sport as part of the sporting legacy of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Further support comes from sponsors Yahoo! who are working with Ping! so Londoners can access and interact with ping pong tables at locations near where they work, live or play all through the month of August!
For a full programme of events please visit www.pinglondon.com
Colette Hiller, Creative Director of Sing London, said: “Ping! is for everyone – those who love table tennis and those who didn’t know they did. A quick game of ping-pong en-route to work or over a lunchtime sandwich? What better way to put a smile on the face of Londoners!”
Sport England’s Chief Executive, Jennie Price, said: “Sport England’s job is to make sure everyone has the chance to play a sport that interests them, and sometimes that means taking the sport to the people, rather than the people to the sport. Table tennis has wide appeal, and I hope that thousands of people will take advantage of these outdoor tables and will enjoy playing.”
Andrew Cocker, Head of UK Marketing, Yahoo! said: “Ping! is a fantastic series of events which enable people to have fun playing table tennis across the capital in both iconic and obscure locations. We’re encouraging Yahoo! users and the wider public to play no matter where they are, what time of day it is or whatever standard they are! It’s a great way to socialise and have fun this summer and we’re delighted to be a part of it”.
Richard Yule, ETTA’s Chief Executive, said: “It is fantastic for table tennis to be at the forefront of further cutting edge interventions to increase sustainable mass participation. We recognize there is a growing demand for informal opportunities to play table tennis that is outside of the scope of our traditional club and league structure. Ping! and the outdoor table initiatives will allow us to embrace this growing market and also re-establish table tennis in the public’s imagination as a fun, sociable and desirable sport to play.”
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “Having just announced our own summer of sport programme to get Londoners more active I think Ping! is a fabulous idea. A bit of light exercise in the great outdoors, some friendly competition – even if you’ve never tried table tennis before, give it a go.”