The 2023 Wimbledon Tennis Championships, which just ended this year, left the biggest concern for the Chinese people in addition to the excitement of the top tournament, is "smile".
A striking photo of legendary football star Li Na and two 8-year-olds smiling at each other. In the photo, the tennis legend is full of smiles, showing his encouragement and hope for the tennis teenager, and the faces of the two 8-year-olds are also full of love and perseverance for their tennis dreams.
Two 8-year-old children, named Zhao Zhiyuan and Zhao Yunxiang. They came from deep in the mountains of Yunnan, thousands of miles away from Wimbledon in London, England. In order to achieve the dream of a young player, the legendary star Li Na, who has been retired for many years, returned to Wimbledon and met the "wild elephant boy" from Yunnan at Wimbledon (hereinafter referred to as "Wimbledon"); As a partner of Wimbledon, OPPO is also fulfilling its mission to help young players realize their dreams, and at the same time, it is also the power of smiles on the field, which has promoted this dream relay action that spans thousands of miles.
Tennis, let the seeds of dreams begin to take root
The story begins with our two young players, Zhao Zhiyuan and Zhao Yunxiang, who were originally just children deep in the mountains of Cangyuan County, Yunnan Province, and like the vast majority of children in remote mountainous areas in China, the life in front of them is a narrow road - except for a very few children with excellent grades who walk out of the mountains through education, most of them inherit the life of their fathers - working at home or working outside the home.
Last November, they came to the Wild Elephant Tennis Club, a team made up of young players from the Wa ethnic group in Yunnan. Wang Fa, the champion of the U14 men's singles at the 2022 ASICS Junior Tennis Tour in Guangzhou, is a member of this group, and he is the tennis boy who carries the ball with a bamboo basket, and the "wild elephant boy" has since entered people's field of vision.
Before this, Zhao Zhiyuan and Zhao Yunxiang had not been in contact with tennis and competitive sports, and the door of this "new world" made their lives rewrite since then. This time to Wimbledon, the "wild elephant boy" received attention and help from the outside world, and they also began to realize that their tennis dreams can be realized, and their once monotonous lives can be changed, and 7 months later, with the opening of the 2023 Wimbledon tennis championships, the "tennis dream" in the centrifugation of the "wild elephant boys" is one step closer.
Dream of a thousand miles relay, always smile forward
From Kunming, Yunnan to Wimbledon, England, the distance is about 8500 kilometers. In order to make the tennis dream of the "wild elephant boy" a stone's hand, this Wimbledon partner - OPPO used various resources to carry out a relay.
In order to ensure that the five young players of "Wild Elephant Boys" appear at Wimbledon together, OPPO has made a lot of preparations for this, from visas to invitations to dredging all aspects, which has slowly turned from a project to a commitment. Even in the case of tight cycles, budget overruns, and unsmooth visas, everyone still did not give up any possibility, and even the WeChat group of the project team was changed to "wild elephants rush again" after being refused visas!
In the end, thanks to everyone's efforts, Zhao Zhiyuan and Zhao Yunxiang qualified to go to Wimbledon, and the other young players failed to do so due to family and other reasons, and for this hard-won opportunity, the coach of the Wild Elephant Tennis Club encouraged the two children who came to watch the match at Wimbledon: "This time you are lucky to be able to sit here and watch the game, next time you play here yourself, you know?" ”
It's not enough to be there at a top game. In OPPO's view, it is necessary to let the "wild elephant boys" see the seeds of dreams blossom. So, under the repeated coordination and communication of OPPO, the legendary star Li Na returned to Wimbledon and met the "wild elephant boy" from thousands of miles away at the top tennis event.
Li last competed as an official player at Wimbledon back in 2014, her 33rd Grand Slam main draw and her last. At that time, Li Na stopped in the top 32, and then announced her retirement in September of that year. Although Li Na participated in the Wimbledon veteran tournament after retiring in 2018, Wimbledon has always been a regret for the legendary star.
And when the media captured Li Na's encounter with the "wild elephant boy", Wimbledon, which had left regrets in the past, showed a smile, behind which there was confidence in the power of Chinese junior tennis.
Some media recorded the details of this scene: on the edge of the Wimbledon arena, Li Na told the two children not about these distant regrets, she asked them to close their eyes and imagine that they would one day stand on the field, and the audience was full, "You imagine that picture, think about it, and open your eyes again." ”
Smiling doesn't just bloom on tennis
This is not the first time OPPO has helped tennis teenagers chase their dreams and realize their dreams.
OPPO is not only the global official partner of the French Open and Wimbledon, but also has been committed to the development of youth sports public welfare, not only continuing to convey the sportsmanship and fighting spirit of tennis to the outside world, but also letting more people pay attention to the development of teams in the mountains and China's youth sports through various ways. As a technology company, OPPO also provides more scientific assistance and health monitoring for the daily training and competition of young players through leading technology, and brings a different experience to competitive sports with innovative technology.
This time, OPPO led the "Wild Elephant Boy" to Wimbledon to chase their dreams, not only helping the mountain children pursue their dreams and encouraging them to maintain their love, but also promoting all this to achieve the brand concept of OPPO "Smile Forward" - insist on doing the right thing, the right road, not afraid of far away, not afraid of difficulties, and can always fight and work hard for what they love.
Of course, it's not just tennis where a smile blooms. More than a month ago, as a partner of the UEFA Champions League, OPPO also realized the dream of direct access to the top game for the Yuanbao women's football team deep in the mountains of Guizhou.
This is another dream relay operation. Located deep in the mountains of Bijie, Guizhou, the Yuanbao women's football team initially did not even have a decent football turf, and the team's children could only practice on potholed ground. But it is under such conditions that football has become a "through train" for these children in the deep mountains to the outside world. Among them, OPPO continues to help the young players of Yuanbao Women's Football to win more opportunities for game exchanges, help them go out of the mountains, see a wider world, and let children in remote areas have more possibilities for the future, since 2018, nearly 100 poor children have been saved from school because of football, Yuanbao Women's Football has been selected to join the Guangzhou Football Association's women's youth echelon, and 8 people were admitted to the Southwest Branch of China Football Sports Institute.
In June this year, OPPO invited football superstar and OPPO global brand ambassador Kaka to personally provide professional guidance for the Yuanbao Women's Football Team, and invited the young players of the Yuanbao Women's Football Team to Istanbul to watch the match with Kaka and experience the charm of this world's top football tournament up close.
From Guizhou to Istanbul, flying more than 7,000 kilometers, from Kunming to Wimbledon, England, flying more than 8,500 kilometers... Behind every dream relay action is the symbol of OPPO's long-term adherence to sports public welfare.
For example, in 2022, OPPO joined hands with Wang Shanshan and Zhao Lina, members of the Chinese women's national football team, to launch the "Tomorrow Gold Public Welfare Program" to build stadiums for junior women's football and donate to school football teams for rural areas, helping to revitalize rural football. At present, OPPO has donated a football stadium to a rural school in Jiangyou, Sichuan, and sponsored the establishment of six campus women's football teams in six rural schools. Later, it joined hands with a number of public welfare organizations to bring the Reno10 Splendid Gold Public Welfare Program, aiming to help the popularization and development of youth women's football in China by supporting the formation and development of more school women's football teams.
OPPO hopes to help Chinese young athletes improve their competitive level and realize their sports dreams through on-site viewing or coaching and training through different sports events and cooperation with top athletes. Especially at present, Chinese tennis has entered the "golden age", and mainland teenagers have increasingly become the main force participating in tennis, and tennis needs to move towards a more professional and perfect direction. It is also hoped that through the in-depth practice of corporate responsibility, we will use diversified public welfare play methods to help rural children move forward towards the "dream of football".
In the future, OPPO will continue to be committed to sports public welfare, practice corporate social responsibility, help the development of China's sports industry, let the charm of tennis reach a wider circle, and let more people feel the passion of competition. At the same time, we will continue to face the countryside and look to the grassroots, based on the public welfare of youth football, unite the strength of all parties, carry out more public welfare projects, and create greater social value.
Sports have the power to change people, and sports public welfare can win a better tomorrow for children in poor mountainous areas. Just like OPPO's "moving forward with a smile", not only has Guizhou Yuanbao Women's Football Team and Yunnan "Wild Elephant Youth" planted the seeds of great dreams in the corporate sports public welfare actions of spring wind and rain, but also let more children in poor mountainous areas see the possibility of changing their destiny, inspire more people to participate in sports public welfare actions with the greatness of dreams, infect more people for sports construction, and finally form an indispensable and important force in the construction of a sports power.
Source: CCTV