The Otago Table Tennis Association is set to benefit from Dunedin's sister city relationship with Shanghai.
Association president Murray Tennant said an 11-strong contingent from China would arrive in the city on Saturday on a cultural interchange programme which would involve a lot of table tennis.
The group would be in Dunedin for more than a week.
''The plan is they will do some initial coaching with local juniors and then they will become involved in a broader coaching camp with other regional players,'' Tennant said.
''Also, there is a TTNZ [Table Tennis New Zealand] squad coming down as well . . . so there is going to be some fairly intensive training undertaken Wednesday through to Friday of next week.
''[The Chinese] will then also participate in the Otago Open which is being played on the Saturday and Sunday [July 18 and 19].''
Tennant said the Chinese players were aged from 10 to 18, and the older players, especially, were expected to be quite sharp.
''When you look at the skill level of China compared with New Zealand, we anticipate that they will be quite good.
''The original concept was to bring them over so they can train with our juniors, but the older ones will be quite capable of footing it with the adults.''
The Chinese visitors will participate in some cultural activities while they are here, including visiting Dunedin's wildlife and museums.
''The idea is we want to foster future relationships with Shanghai and we hope we will be invited back across and we can bring more players over here as well.''
