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Auction helps veteran athletes
21/4/2005 13:08

Shanghai Daily news

Fans of table tennis helped raise 1 million yuan (US$120,482) yesterday in a special auction designed to benefit the city's veteran athletes.
Twenty table tennis souvenirs - both modern and antique - went under the gavel at Wenxin United Press Tower, the home of Shanghai Daily.
The highest bid involved a ping pong table with stylish transparent legs that will be used in the five finals of the upcoming World Table Tennis Championship Shanghai.
A local real estate consortium paid 480,000 yuan for the table, which will be delivered to its new owner after the paddlers are done using it at the blue-ribbon event scheduled for April 30 through May 6.
Proceeds from the auction, coordinated by the tournament's organizing committee, will go to the Shanghai Charity Foundation and be used to help retired athletes whose lives have been adversely affected by injuries suffered in their sporting careers.
In addition to the table, other items up for grabs ranged from a promotional pamphlet for the 1961 Table Tennis World Championship in Beijing, the first major international table tennis competition in China, to Chinese national team jerseys autographed by dozens of the country's world champion paddlers.
China has dominated the sport over the past three decades, although with sporadic downfalls at times.
"Most of the items came from the collections of ordinary table tennis fans," said Yao Zhenxu, a member of the organizing committee. "They chart the history of table tennis in China, and we hope the money raised can help those in need."