On March 25th, Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Huawei, announced their new sponsorship deal with the brand becoming the new title sponsor of the national Go league in China, the 2018 China Weiqi League (CWQL).
Zhu Ping, Huawei's President of Consumer Business Unit in China, posted on his Weibo account a photo featuring the league information and Huawei’s logo after the sponsorship deal was announced. Zhu also emphasized that this partnership between Huawei and the CWQL is “a combination of technology and arts, as well as a combination of a photography master and a Go guru”.
As various media have reported, the 2018 CWQL will begin on March 27 in Changxing County, Zhejiang Province while on the same day, Huawei will launch their new flagship smartphone, the P20/P20 Pro in Paris.
The CWQL is a Go league inaugurated by the Chinese Weiqi Association in 1999. In 2017, 14 teams competed in the league, featuring both domestic Go players and overseas players from Japan and South Korea. This year, the league will also bring together a lot of famous Go players, such as Gu Li and AlphaGo’s former rival Ke Jie.
Prior to the Huawei deal, another Chinese smartphone brand, Gionee, held the position of title sponsor of the CWQL for 11 years from 2007.
Source: iFeng
Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick