Expedition to Paris of Enterprises from the GBA | Double Fish: A Little Ball's Olympic Journey

The 2024 Paris Olympics officially concluded on August 11 local time. At this Olympics, Chinese table tennis team has delivered yet another stunning performance, bagging five gold medals.

While stars like Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng are battling for glory on the Olympic stage, there's another unsung hero bringing glory to China: the Double Fish PAR40+ ping pong ball from Guangdong. For the first time since the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Double Fish balls have once again been chosen as the official Olympic match ball.

You might be wondering, "What's so special about a tiny little ping pong ball?" Table tennis enthusiasts know the answer: while all ping-pong balls look similar in appearance, they can feel worlds apart during play. Roundness, center of gravity, hardness, weight, elasticity…Even the slightest difference in any of these parameters can dramatically affect gameplay. That's why an Olympic-grade ball needs to minimize these variations, ensuring more precise ball placement, and consistent trajectories.

In the world of table tennis equipment manufacturing, Double Fish is definitely a time-honored brand. In 1954, Yongjian Sports Equipment Company, the predecessor of Double Fish, began producing Double Fish table tennis tables. In 1959, Rong Guotuan won the gold medal in men's singles at the 25th World Table Tennis Championships. This was the first world championship in China's sports history after the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC). This victory ignited a table tennis craze across the nation. That same year, the Guangzhou Chenggong ping-pong ball factory was founded, and it began producing table tennis equipment under the brand "Double Fish." In the 1960s, Double Fish made ping-pong balls using the old craft nicknamed "rice ball cooking", which later developed into scaled production.

In 1975, Double Fish developed China's first three-star ping-pong ball, which was approved as an official match ball later by the ITTF. From the 1980s to the present, Double Fish balls and tables have been used in over 60 international events, achieving a "Grand Slam" in the Olympics, World Championships, and World Cup.

Despite being a top brand in the table tennis industry, Double Fish isn't resting on its laurels. Factors like total user base and average customer spending, limit the table tennis equipment market size. Domestic brands like DHS and Yinhe are formidable competitors, while internationally, Sweden's Stiga, Japan's Butterfly, and Germany's Donic, all boast loyal client bases, making for fierce industrial competition.

Besides, Double Fish's business expansion is far from ideal. Its influence remains largely confined to table tennis, with new product lines like badminton, soccer, basketball, and volleyball receiving lukewarm responses. These haven't yet broken into the top tier of their respective markets, let alone compete against industrial giants like YONEX, Victor, LI-NING, and Nike.

In order to break the current bottleneck, Double Fish made a bold move in venturing into the realm of e-business and live streaming. By cooperating with China-Chic brand HEA in Guangdong, and launching table tennis-related hip products with Lingnan characteristics, Double Fish aims to capture a larger share of the youth market.

Double Fish, swimming from Guangzhou to the world, epitomizes the city's efforts in "building a world-level sports city." In 2023, the total scale of consumption in sports from urban and rural residents in Guangzhou reached 62.4 billion yuan, with 3,332 yuan per capita. Over the past three years, the average annual scale of Guangzhou's sports industry has exceeded 210 billion yuan.

Looking ahead to 2025, the 15th National Games of PRC will be jointly hosted in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. Guangzhou is seizing this opportunity to accelerate its pace in sports city building and making "smart manufacturing" the go-to choice for sports enthusiasts worldwide.

出品：南财国际传播中心 21新媒体中心 创意互动中心

策划统筹：于晓娜 丁青云

内容统筹：谭婷 张楠

责任编辑：曹钰

执行统筹：黄欣然 

设计统筹：林军明

视频统筹：白宇航

监制：施诗

英文翻译&配音：李莹亮

海外运营监制: 黄燕淑

海外运营内容统筹: 黄子豪

运营支持：曾静娇

审校：张晔 辛灵 黄志明