新华社休斯敦11月23日电（记者徐剑梅、潘丽君、兴越）2021年世界乒乓球锦标赛23日在美国休斯敦拉开大幕，首日进行了男、女单打以及混双首轮赛事。出战的中国队运动员全部过关，两对中美跨协会混双组合在首秀中横扫对手晋级。这是世乒赛首次在美国举办。
世界乒乓球职业大联盟理事会主席、中国乒协主席刘国梁是促成本次中美混双配对的关键人物，他表示:A few days ago， when the Chinese team arrived in Houston， I was deeply moved by the efforts ITTF， USA Table Tennis and Houston Sports Authority put into organizing a sports event during a pandemic. We have been thinking about how we can build on the China-US friendship kickstarted by our predecessors 50 years ago， and further enhance this relationship through sports events， sports activities and community events. 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;
前言：近期刚刚结束了WTT卢布尔雅那球星赛，今天也是迎来WTT拉各斯常规挑战赛，资格赛的开赛。在这个时间里面，国乒可是有了新动静了，自从WTT重庆冠军赛结束后，中国国乒全体进入封闭训练中，也是好久没有露面了，球迷也是非常想念他们。
