New Delhi: International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) have Collaborated with Indian Startup, Stupa Sports Analytics to provide Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled Real-time match and practice analytics solutions to leading players in all its 226 Member Associations (countries). An agreement to this effect was recently signed between ITTF and Stupa Analytics.
ITTF through its High Performance & Development (HPD) department is acutely looking at sports analytics to take the game to the next level by providing ground-breaking real-time and in-depth analysis provided by Stupa to all the top players globally through its affiliated Member Associations. This collaboration also helps in strengthening the performance of ITTF’s “With The Future in Mind” scholarship holders for the upcoming Olympic and Youth Olympic Games.
The stupa is working on Artificial Intelligence enabled ball tracking and video analytics technology for providing real-time matches and practice analysis. It harnesses the power of Artificial Intelligence and data analytics collectively, to analyze an athlete’s technical performance, derive trends and patterns from historic data, and provide detailed analysis of the game. It identifies hidden anomalies, provides insights to correct them, and thus amplifies the coaching with deep analysis. Stupa Sports Analytics is the very first company in the world to offer AI-enabled Sports Analytics solutions through a mobile application into Table Tennis.
“At the ITTF High Performance & Development Department, we are very pleased to continue our cooperation with Stupa Analytics. Even more so because we keep upgrading and expanding the portfolio of services that we are gradually introducing into our Programs. It started 2 years ago when we introduced performance analysis services into our ‘With the Future in Mind’ scholarship program, which we later on topped up with on-site training analysis for the Hopes Squad. In 2020, when the pandemic hit, we came up with the idea of online training lessons and collaborated with the Indian company, who were excited about taking this step, so stay tuned as the fourth season is in the making. Finally, we are especially excited about the new “kid on the block”, i.e. the packages for the Member Associations that are incorporated in the soon to be launched Participation Program, another addition to the ITTF Development Program. We live in a digital World therefore it doesn’t come as a surprise that Artificial Intelligence has made it to Table Tennis as well, and thanks to our cooperation with Stupa Analytics soon also to all the 226 ITTF members.,” said Ms. Polona Cehovin, HPD Director, International Table Tennis Federation.
Ms. Megha Gambhir, Founder-Chief Executive Officer, Stupa Sports Analytics, said, “We are excited about our collaboration with ITTF. Stupa’s analytics solutions perfectly complement HPD’s vision on embracing new innovation and technologies to strengthen global Table Tennis. Many Worlds ranked players rely on Stupa Analytics to optimize their training, unearth new revelations, patterns and discover data-driven insights. We are relentlessly working on re-imagining and re-designing the sport and extending our product in audience engagement via broadcasting & live streaming through graphics, real-time stats, auto-replays, creative media, AR/VR, predictive analytics that will take the excitement of competitions to a whole new level.”
The world of sports has evolved by leaps and It is significantly impacted by Artificial Intelligence. Both data analytics and artificial intelligence are being used in sports in a substantial amount in creating a strategy for games, understanding deep trends & behavioral patterns of players, optimize training programs by coaches through quick analysis and monitoring, and so forth.
Today, when the world is gripped by the pandemic, analytics will play an important role in ensuring practice by maintaining the necessary social distancing between players and coaches, said Ms. Gambhir.
About ITTF HPD Programme: International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is the governing body for all national table tennis associations. The Participation Program is a new pillar of the recently announced 2021-2024 ITTF Development Plan, in which ITTF HPD, among others, provides in collaboration with Stupa to all the Member Associations. The main guiding principles of the HPD program include global reach, individual approach, and customized support based on member associations’ needs. The support may be used for a wide range of national programs and projects such as youth development by enhancing skills and competencies of young talented players; upskilling and empowerment of top national team players and coaches; promotion and activation of school programs; provision of educational tools; and equipment support.
About Stupa Sports Analytics: Stupa, is keen to improve the performance of amateurs, casual and professional players by helping them and their coaches in identifying the exact pain points and further deriving their Personal Learning Roadmap for sustainable game improvement. It harnesses the power of Data Analytics & AI/ML to extract the data, draw automatic highlights, analyze an athlete’s technical performance, derive trends and patterns, and provide detailed analysis of the game. The company has launched its first product in Table Tennis and will soon be expanding to other racket sports like Badminton, Squash & lawn tennis. Stupa also works in broadcasting, creative social media, and fan engagement content for enriching the viewership experience of the fans and followers.
