Japan Agri Co-op Fed Sponsors Prestigious Sports Tournament
Japan Agri Co-op Fed Sponsors Prestigious Sports Tournament TOKYO — Zen-Noh Group, or the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA) Group, sponsored the recently concluded 2019 Table Tennis World Team Cup held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium from November 6 to 10.
The World Cup tournament is the second biggest this year, after the World Championships in April.
After preliminary qualification tournaments in Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, Pan America, 48 male and 51 female athletes, for a total of 99, participated in the worldwide event.
The athletes are from 16 countries. The tournament was the 12th edition of the Team World Cup.
The Team World Cup comprises a total of 12 men’s and 12 women’s team which are made up of a
host team, Continental Champions and other top finishers at the 2016 World Team Table Tennis
Championships.
The last edition of the ITTF Team World Cup was held in 2018 in London, and this edition of the Team
World Cup will serve as the test event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The Champion team receives US$50,000. Total prize fund is US$ 270,000.
Table Tennis is today considered the largest individual sport in the world, with some 300 million people worldwide playing at least 30 minutes a week.
This is the second time that JA Group has sponsored the prestigious tournament, the last time being in 2012.
Table Tennis is considered both a “fun activity and a serious professional sport”.
Team China – both men and women – won the World Cup.
The Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA) Group is an organization consisting of farmers’ cooperatives, whose purpose is to protect and
enhance agricultural management and the livelihood of farmers in the spirit of mutual assistance.
The National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (ZEN-NOH) is in charge of the marketing and supply business of the JA Group.
It seeks to connect producers and consumers, revitalize production centers, and preserve society and the environment. Through integration with prefectural-level JA federations in the course of organizational restructuring aimed at strengthening its business foundation, the ZEN-NOH Group has now 34 Prefectural Headquarters and one Prefectural Office nationwide.
Zen-Noh Group comprises 993 cooperatives, with combined capitalization 115.2 Billion Yen, and recent turnover 4.7 Trillion Yen
ZEN-NOH Group does “its business through the concerted efforts of its member cooperatives, with the aim of increasing the production efficiency of member farmers,
improving their economic conditions, and contributing to raising their status in society. The ZEN-NOH Group carries out supplying of agricultural materials,
machinery and facilities for joint use by farmers, to education, production, financing, harvesting, processing, transporting, warehousing, retailing, and all the way to exportation of agricultural products.
Zen-Noh also conducts laboratory agricultural research and operates restaurants.