Uncle Pop is based in Chengdu, China with its main market in China and Asia; however, Uncle Pop has a Canadian office in Vancouver.
Table Tennis Canada will for the first time in its history host the World Cup in Canada. In the 23-year history of the Women’s World Cup, 2017 will mark only the third time that the event will be hosted outside of Asia - 2014 in Linz, Austria, 2016 in Philadelphia, USA and 2017 in Markham, ON.
“The International Table Tennis Federation was somewhat hesitant in awarding the event to North America. The World Cup is an important part of the ITTF’s TV rights portfolio, and North America was untested. However, when the analysis from hosting the event in Philadelphia came in, it was a no-brainer for the ITTF - viewership had doubled compared to the previous year’s event held in Sendai, Japan,” explains David Jackson, President of Table Tennis Canada. Our application to host was in, and Canada was awarded the event.”
“We had two candidates for the title sponsor; we chose Uncle Pop, because we think that the company’s plans to expand into North America while strengthening its base in Asia, matches our plans for hosting high level international events in Canada,” states TTCAN CEO Tony Kiesenhofer. “We can provide programming that is of interest to viewers in North America and in Asia and this results in large TV audiences.” According to a media report commissioned by the ITTF, over 45 million TV viewers watched last year’s event in Philadelphia.
Table Tennis Canada will ‘launch’ the event nationally in early September when the names of the athletes qualified for the 2017 Uncle Pop Women’s World Cup will be known. “With Richmond, BC’s Mo Zhang we will have a competitive athlete in the field of competitors; there is a chance for a second athlete to get a host spot for the event,” states Kiesenhofer optimistically. “For now, we are very happy to welcome Uncle Pop onboard and we will make sure to present an event of the highest quality at the PANAM Centre in Markham.”
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