Sports Technology

Melbourne – September 28, 2026 -- The Australian Open has named Chinese sports technology firm Pongbot its Official Ball Machine under a new multi-year agreement covering the 2027 tournament (AO27).

Deal extends to Tennis Australia's National Tennis Academy

The partnership also designates Pongbot as Official Ball Machine Supplier of the National Tennis Academy, embedding its AI-powered equipment into Tennis Australia's player development pathway.

AI Coach technology targets training consistency and performance data

Pongbot's product line, including its AI Coach system, will be deployed for high-performance training, consistent ball repetition, data collection and performance analysis at the tournament and academy.

Pongbot CEO Haibo Zhang said the partnership centers on using AI Coach to change how players train and convert sustained effort into measurable progress.

San Antonio – September 20, 2026 -- Frost & Sullivan has named Lenovo a 2026 Global Technology Innovation Leader in AI-powered sports event technology, citing the company's role as FIFA's unified technology partner for the FIFA World Cup 2026TM.

Frost & Sullivan cites FIFA AI Pro's reach across all 48 World Cup teams

The analytics platform, co-developed by Lenovo and FIFA, gave all 48 teams competing at the tournament the ability to query petabytes of competition data in plain language and receive insights within seconds. Alaa Saayed, VP of Digital Content Services at Frost & Sullivan, said the tool changes the competitive logic of the sport by democratizing access to advanced data analysis.