The 2021 World Table Tennis Championships in Houston, Texas, have put China-U.S. relations in the global spotlight, as Chinese and American paddlers paired up for the first time at a high-level tournament in the year marking the 50th anniversary of "Ping Pong Diplomacy."

China's Lin Gaoyuan got the ball rolling on Monday night as he warmed up with his American partner Lily Zhang during a joint training session for a much-anticipated mixed doubles event on Tuesday. Lin's compatriot, Wang Manyu, was paired with U.S. talent Kanak Jha.

The Chinese Table Tennis Association and the U.S. Table Tennis Association jointly submitted the request to allow China-U.S. pairs to compete to the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), whose Executive Committee approved the request on Sunday, according to a statement published on the ITTF's official website.

Fifty years ago, the U.S. table tennis team was invited by their Chinese counterpart to visit China at the conclusion of the 31st World Championships in Nagoya, Japan. The U.S. players landed in Beijing on April 10, 1971, becoming the first U.S. group to visit China since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

The Chinese table tennis team paid a return visit to the U.S. the following year, thus breaking the ice after two decades of China-U.S. estrangement, and eventually leading to the normalization of bilateral ties. 

"Ping Pong Piplomacy made a huge part in our history and I'm excited to be part of the history again," Lily Zhang told CGTN after the training session. 

The sentiment was echoed by Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA) President Liu Guoliang, who has sought to drive the sustainable development of table tennis and make the sport accessible to a wider audience.

"We have been thinking about how we can build on the China-U.S. friendship kick-started by our predecessors 50 years ago, and further enhance this relationship through sports events, sports activities and community events," said Liu, who is also chair of the World Table Tennis (WTT) Council. 

"On this basis, the CTTA alongside USA Table Tennis proposed to ITTF to have Chinese and American players paired up for Mixed Doubles – so that these athletes, who are friends with each other, can work together in the competition; so that fans from both countries can cheer them on, opening a new chapter of Ping Pong Diplomacy in this new era."