San Francisco Ping Pong Tournament: Mayor Hosts City's First Game Of Citywide Pong

Mayor Hosts SF's First Citywide Ping Pong Tournament In Chinatown

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Ping Pong Diplomacy (the 1971 U.S. and Chinese ping pong tournament in Beijing that helped ease bitter Chinese-U.S relations), Mayor Ed Lee is hosting San Francisco's first citywide ping pong tournament on Sunday in Chinatown.

Part of the Sunday Streets series, Sunday's celebration will include a "Walking Street" that will be closed to auto traffic on Grant Street from Chinatown to North Beach.

“As we remember the historic Ping Pong Diplomacy tournament that took place 40 years ago this year, we are celebrating community-building programs, such as Sunday Streets, that bring our communities together," said Lee. It's likely also to remind San Franciscans of Lee's ties to and backing by the Chinese community.

The tournament will be held in Portsmouth Square starting at 9am, and will feature teams "fielded from around the City and representatives from local organizations playing for prizes," according to the press release. That means you and four of your cohorts can sign up here to take out your BART/MUNI/Crissy-Field-parking/Run-Ed-Run-related aggressions on City organizers over a friendly game of pong.

As Lee said at the last Sunday Streets, "Sunday Streets is about fun." Touché, Mr. Mayor.

Check out Mayor Lee at last month's Sunday Streets talking about the upcoming tournament in the video below, courtesy of Diane Harrigan at Postcards From SF:

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