Claypaky fixtures scored big at the World Table Tennis Grand Smash Singapore 2025 where a large complement of Sharpy X Frames and Sharpy Washes were deployed on the field of play for competition lighting and for audience-pleasing sports presentations that kept fans’ energy high.
The six-year-old organization which runs commercialized table tennis tournaments, WTT considers its Grand Smashes to be the pillars of the sport and the most important events in the table tennis calendar. The WTT series started its Singapore leg in 2021 with Gabriel Chan acting as Lighting Designer/Programmer. Singapore hosted the inaugural WTT Grand Smash tournament in 2022 and has since been the cradle of Grand Smash tournaments around the world, where sports presentation ideas are birthed, researched and tested before being exported to other countries holding tournaments.
According to Gabriel Chan the lighting design for the Singapore Grand Smash needs to fulfill three functions. The field of play lighting for the actual competition has to be bright yet soft to Illuminate the playing field without glare that might affect the athletes’ performance. Lighting must also be broadcast ready and accommodate slow-motion footage that requires even field lighting at high lux output. For the sports presentation, light and sound shows amp up spectators pre-match and for athletes’ entrances; in addition, lighting creates theatrical moods and atmosphere for time outs and other out-of-match periods for dramatic effect.
Michael Chan joined the lighting team in 2023 when the design workload became too heavy for a single person given the delivery timelines. Since 2024 Gabriel Chan has focused primarily on field of play (competition) lighting as well as lighting for broadcast while Michael Chan acts as Sports Presentation Lighting Designer.
There are usually five 45-second light shows with music and multimedia in each match. “They are meant to hype up the audience before the players walk in and to keep the energy levels high,” explains Michael Chan. “The light shows have become a prominent and integral part of the event experience and are now a highly choreographed design with lots of cues responding to all the attacks and beats.”
In addition, there are opening and closing shows of two to two-and-half-minute’s duration. “Similar to the light shows, they are packed with cues, but normally interlaced with more storytelling,” Michael Chan explains. “We also have used the lights to enhance the sound and video effects, such as a lion’s roar or a ball being hit.”
Back in 2021, the Grand Smash’s original lighting design featured older hybrid fixtures from other brands whose beam functions were used primarily in the light and sound shows while their wash functions served as soft fill light for broadcast. They performed well for their time but it was decided they were in need of a refresh. At the same time, lighting vendor MediaPix was looking to update its inventory. The design intent sought to exploit both the beam and wash functions of hybrid fixtures for different key requirements of the sporting event, and Claypaky Sharpy X Frames were a natural choice to achieve this.
A total of 83 Sharpy X Frames was deployed for the Grand Smash.For competition lighting at the recent Grand Smash, six Sharpy X Frames were mounted on each of four diagonal trusses as camera fill lights. Eight were on the mother truss as athletes’ bench/umpire chair specials. Eighteen were positioned on the rear truss above the 24-meter LED screen. Sixteen more units were on the floor with an extra fixture dedicated to backlighting athletes in the tunnel. All of the fixtures proved to be “reliable and bright,” says Gabriel Chan.
The Sharpy X Frames also replaced two rows of eight Claypaky Mythos fixtures previously used above the catwalk to add punch and beam effects. “I think the Sharpy X Frames stand out in a market where all the new and upcoming fixtures are either LED or laser-based,” notes Michael Chan. “The use of a discharge lamp creates a solid, punchy looking beam that is hard to replicate with current LED and laser technology.”
Michael Chan goes on to say, “I love the effects we could create with the fast movements and extremely punchy X Frame, especially when I have the ability to switch between the beam and spot modes. So, their versatility as hybrid fixtures was important.
“I also like the speed of the zoom and framing and how I was able to go from a tight beam to a blinder effect in a short time. Additionally, I used the built-in framing macros for the shutters to ‘dance’ to the beat of the music.”
Sharpy Washes have been a mainstay in competition lighting from the beginning. At this Grand Smash, 29 Sharpy Washes were mounted on the perimeter of the mother truss to act as audience wash lights.
“I appreciate the saturated reds, the thematic color for the event, that the fixture is able to produce, which I use to light up audiences during competition,” says Gabriel Chan. “The result is punchy and renders well on camera yet is comfortable for audiences to sit through without it affecting their appreciation of the sport.”
For the Grand Smash, Zach Leo served as Lighting Operator and Frankie Yee at MediaPix was the lighting vendor. Acoustic and Lighting System is the Claypaky Distributor for Singapore
