by Kabir Nagpal
The Ding Ning episode of ITTF’s Inside My Mind series, launched to promote the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships in Budapest earlier this year, is one of the three nominees for the Sportel Awards “Best Promotion Programme”.
This has put the ITTF’s most dedicated work among other esteemed nominees (from all categories) like FIFA, Nike, Formula 1, NBA, FOX Sports, Red Bull, etc.!
The ‘Queen of Hearts’ and Chinese superstar was involved in the making of this episode just before heading to Budapest, Hungary to defend her crown at the Liebherr 2019 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships between 21-28 April 2019.
This episode was one of a seven-part series involving the top table tennis athletes, all of whom’s intentions were being made perfectly clear ahead of the showpiece event in Budapest. The message through these videos was loud and clear: you may know Table Tennis’ greatest players and personalities, yet there’s still so much more to comprehend about what exactly it is that makes these athletes tick.
In this particular episode about Ding Ning, we dug into the thoughts that undergo in Ding’s mind from the moment she steps out on court and in those milliseconds between and during decisive shots. What is her mental approach for dictating the flow and outcomes of matches? What are her tactics and technique for defeating all before her to take her legendary status in the game to the next level still?
“We are delighted to be nominated for this award. It is great to see that the marketing team’s hard work over the past year has paid off and the ITTF is being recognised internationally for producing high quality content.” Joachim V. Davy, ITTF Creative Manager
The biggest ever ITTF production came together with the efforts of multiple ITTF departments, including but not limited to the Creative and High Performance and Development departments, in cooperation with Austrian Film Agency, Frame Fresh. Furthermore, the cooperation of the elite table tennis players was an integral cog of this project, and we are exceedingly thankful.
This inter-departmental project offered fans exclusive access to the split-second thought processes running through the brains of the world’s very best table tennis players. For behind each action: each swing of the arm, each flick of the wrist, each shift of balance from one foot to another: there is a myriad of decisions made.
Decisions which separate the best from the rest.
This is where ‘Inside My Mind’ came in – and rightly swept the people off their feet!
Spell-binding imagery and audio of the highest production quality has left fans captivated, as the players took them on an unchartered journey deep into their game plans, all while speaking in their native tongue (supported by English subtitles).
‘The Queen of Hearts’ has always combined elegance and dynamism like no other. Fans were able to watch her signature serve as the key to her strategy of serial success – clearly something which has impacted an audience globally given our nomination!
A must-watch for anyone interested in sport or anyone who appreciates the power of video and cinematic film, ‘Inside My Mind’ serves as the perfect way to prepare mentally for the greatest ever Table Tennis event: the Liebherr 2019 ITTF World Championships.
The award will be presented at the Sportel ceremony taking place on Tuesday 22nd October in Monaco. We wish all nominees good luck (and reserve that extra bit for ourselves! ;) )
