The opening ceremony of the Bonding Through Sport, Connecting Through the Heart: 2026 China-U.S. Elite-University Student Pickleball Invitational is held over the weekend in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Senior officials, scholars, students and teachers from China and the United States attended the opening ceremony of a pickleball invitational on Saturday at South China Normal University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

Wang Hengyin, Party secretary of SCNU, gave a speech, saying that he hoped the youths of the two countries would feel the vitality of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area through the sports competition, enhance mutual understanding, and serve as young ambassadors of China-US friendship.

Zhang Xueren, deputy director of the China Center for International People-to-People Exchange, said that these types of events tie China-US relations together by nurturing friendships and inter-civilization mutual learning.

The opening ceremony of the Bonding Through Sport, Connecting Through the Heart: 2026 China-U.S. Elite-University Student Pickleball Invitational is held over the weekend in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

US student representative Milca Velasquez shared her experiences during the China visit, saying she felt privileged to join the invitational and hopeful that sports can serve as a link for on-court competition and off-court friendship.

In addition to the sports competition, US delegation teachers, students, and their Chinese student partners joined an immersive cultural and tech experience at SCNU on Saturday morning. They rotated in groups to learn traditional ethnic sports, such as long-short weapons, archery, and the lion dance, explore sports technology with hands-on access to smart sports gear and human movement science exhibits, and experience Lingnan intangible heritage crafts by making lion dance paper-cut souvenirs.

A round table discussion was also organized for the young Chinese and American participants to exchange views on cross-cultural understanding and technological development.

The opening ceremony of the Bonding Through Sport, Connecting Through the Heart: 2026 China-U.S. Elite-University Student Pickleball Invitational is held over the weekend in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. [Photos provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The opening ceremony of the Bonding Through Sport, Connecting Through the Heart: 2026 China-U.S. Elite-University Student Pickleball Invitational is held over the weekend in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. [Photos provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The opening ceremony of the Bonding Through Sport, Connecting Through the Heart: 2026 China-U.S. Elite-University Student Pickleball Invitational is held over the weekend in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. [Photos provided to chinadaily.com.cn]