by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
Present to receive the prize was Leandro Olvech, ITTF Development Director; the video having been produced by Joachim Davy, the ITTF Digital Co-ordinator who synchronised into one audio-visual work of art, the vast amount of celebrations submitted for the outstandingly successful World Table Tennis Day.
Overall 972 films were submitted for the consideration by FICTS an organization formed in 1983 to promote the values of sport through the film and television; it is recognized by the International Olympic Committee. Mission 226 Guinea Bissau reached the shortlist in the category Short Documentary.
Meanwhile, in the category Sport and Society, 19 films were shortlisted, among them productions from television channels like RAI (Italy), ARD (Germany) and the International Table Tennis Federation.
Most pleasingly, “2017 World Table Tennis Day Celebrations!” received second prize and was awarded with the “Mention d’Honneur”.
“It has been an honour to receive this international recognition for the videos, which brings two important events from 2017 back into attention. Mission 226 Guinea Bissau is the impacting documentary about the milestone in the ITTFs Development Programme gaining the last country on earth of a member. April 6th 2017 felt like the breakthrough of the establishment of World Table Tennis Day three years before. My special thanks go to all those who shared their celebrations with us and to Joachim Davy, who did a great effort to produce both videos among a lot of daily work. May this recognition serve as a motivation to keep strengthening our national associations and to prepare for April 6th 2018! Let’s make our sport even more popular, universal and inclusive!” Leandro Olvech :
“It’s truly exciting! It’s a great honour to be shortlisted amongst other renowned networks. I’m really happy that the 2017 World Table Tennis Day Celebrations was able to finish second at the awards night.” Joachim Davy