In far away lands of the world, as far as one can get from where we were in the little town of Morges on the shores of the Lac Leman of Switzerland, table tennis was played on 8th March 2009, to celebrate women’s day. Towns such as Bariloche or Dina Huapi in Argentina, Puerto Natales in Patagonia Chile, North Harbour in New Zealand, Colombo in Sri Lanka, Cochabamba in Bolivia, Kinshasa in the Congo DR, Koumac and Noumea in New Caledonia, Kumamoto in Japan, just to name a few of the places, joined each other in the same effort to promote women, friendship and the fun of playing table tennis.
Table Tennis celebrated women’s day by ensuring that in remote corners of the world, the UN Millennium Goal of empowering women and girls through sport was addressed. The Friendship Trophy was based on a simple formula – having fun and ensuring that the UN message was heard. The matches were played in mixed teams or women’s teams only! The idea originated at the ITTF in Switzerland together with the regional table tennis Association (the Association Vaud-Valais-Fribourg). The Swiss Friendship Trophy took place in the little town of Morges, where the two female mayors of Morges and Renens (the town where the ITTF headquarters are based) played in the event. 40 teams took part and it was GREAT FUN. At the same time the same event was held in different parts of the world, on all the Continents.
