A new chapter in the intersection of traditional sport and immersive technology is unfolding this fall in Beijing. World Table Tennis (WTT), PICO, and Intel have announced the debut of E-Smash 2025, a VR-powered competition running in tandem with the flagship China Smash 2025 at Shougang Park.
The initiative seeks to merge table tennis’ deep heritage with the expanding possibilities of esports and virtual reality. Leveraging PICO’s VR hardware and Intel’s computing power, E-Smash 2025 will offer athletes, gamers, and fans a shared competitive ecosystem where physical precision meets digital immersion.
From Online Qualifiers to Live Finals
The event kicks off with global registration from August 25 to September 2, followed by online qualifiers from September 4 to 14. The competition then culminates in live finals on October 5 at Shougang Park, coinciding with the peak of China Smash.
Visitors to Shougang Park during September 25 to October 5 will also be able to experience PICO’s dedicated VR zone, a ten-day showcase of interactive content designed to highlight the technology powering the tournament.
The Game Behind the Tournament
Matches will take place on Eleven Table Tennis, a VR title developed by U.S.-based For Fun Labs and widely recognized as the benchmark for virtual table tennis. The game features a millimeter-precise physics engine, ensuring realistic ball movement and gameplay, and has recently introduced a Mixed Reality mode, allowing real-world spaces to be transformed into competitive arenas.
Technology and Partnerships at the Core
Intel will deliver the computing backbone to maintain stable global connectivity, while PICO provides the immersive hardware that enables gameplay at scale. Combined with WTT’s expertise in managing global competitions, the collaboration is being positioned as more than just an experiment—it’s the foundation of a new esports ecosystem centered on VR.
Extending the Legacy of China Smash
While China Smash 2025 will showcase the sport’s most elite athletes competing across five categories, Men’s and Women’s Singles, Doubles, and Mixed Doubles, E-Smash is designed as an extension of that legacy, offering a modern, interactive counterpart. By blending table tennis tradition with cutting-edge immersive technology, the partners are aiming to broaden the tournament’s reach to new audiences both in China and abroad.
With its dual format, China Smash 2025 is set not only to honor the sport’s competitive excellence but also to signal how emerging technologies like VR are reshaping the way fans engage with games, whether on the table or inside a headset.