Serving hope

Marking the 50th anniversary of Ping-Pong Diplomacy, top paddlers from China and the United States paired up to compete at the mixed doubles competition at the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Houston, Texas, in November. Chinese star Lin Gaoyuan paired with Lily Zhang from the US, while American Kanak Jha played with Wang Manyu, who won team gold for China at the Tokyo Olympics. Lin and Zhang eventually won bronze at the championships. The linkups revived memories of the Ping-Pong Diplomacy of the 1970s, which paved the way for the reestablishment of China-US relations.