On April 13, 2013, CITIC Construction attended a celebration for Angola's historic breakthrough in table tennis in Ruanda, capital of Angola at the invitation of the Angolan Table Tennis Association (ATTA). Angola grabbed the bronze medals in men's team, women's team and men's singles in the "African Junior Table Tennis Championships", implying Angola's table tennis has achieved a leap in the international arena after winning its first medal in the 2012 edition of the championships.
The celebration received a warm response from the Angolan society. Igor Monteiro , representative of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Angola (MYS), extended warm congratulations to the players who had achieved the historic breakthrough in the international arena, praising "the remarkable progress and great success of Angola's table tennis which shows the great rise of Angola's sportsmanship!" "The rise of Angola's table tennis has been inseparable from CITIC Construction's selfless help and the players' hard training in China," ATTA Chairman João de Deus said, with the help of CITIC Construction, more children will access and like this sport as the future and hope of Angola's table tennis. ATTA will keep pushing table tennis forward as a contribution to the development of Angola's sports cause.
Wu Zhixin, construction advisor of CITIC Construction, said, the results achieved by the junior players in the international arena are the fruits of Angola-China friendship and have laid the groundwork for Angola to become a table tennis power in Africa. The results have been inseparable from their hard training in China, the utmost instruction from Chinese coaches, the support from their parents and the care from ATTA and MYS. CITIC Construction will continue to support the development of Angola's table tennis. Hopefully, the junior players will establish the belief of winning glories for their country, treasure the hard-won opportunity, guard against arrogance and rashness, and train hard to make greater contributions to Angola's table tennis.
Mainstream media including Angola Press and Angola National Television covered the event.
From April 1 to 6, 2013, Angola's national junior table tennis players sponsored by CITIC Construction won the bronze medals in U-15 men's team and U-15 women's team in the 16th African Junior Table Tennis Championships in Tunisia; Antonio won the bronze medal in men's singles; Angola team won the Fair Play Cup; Antonio and Isabel booked berths in the 2013 World Junior Championships.
To raise Angola's sports competition level, CITIC Construction invited world champions Guo Yuehua and Chen Xinhua to promote table tennis in Angola, and sponsored seven Angolan junior table tennis players and an Angolan coach for a three-year training program in Fujian Province, China, setting off a whirlwind of table tennis in Angola.
