Theme song of upcoming sports movie released

No One Called "Hey", a Chinese song written by composers Lorne Balfe and Andrew Kawczynski and lyricist Tang Tian, and produced by Yu Fei, will be released on Jan 20.

Performed by Leon Lai, Deng Chao and Zhang Yanqi, the song was featured in the upcoming Chinese movie, Ping Pong: The Triumph, as its theme song.

The movie, a collaboration between actor-director Deng and scriptwriter Yu Baimei, follows the story of Chinese male table tennis national team during the 1990s, going through hardship and failure before winning during the 1995 World Table Tennis Championships in Tianjin.

The movie will premiere on Jan 24, during Spring Festival, one of the biggest and most important traditional Chinese festivals for family reunion and celebration of the Chinese New Year.

Deng plays the role of Dai Minjia, a coach of the Chinese male table tennis national team.

The theme song delivers the messages about belief and persistence.

According to lyricist Tang, the song was inspired by her childhood memories about Chinese table tennis teams, which is a major force in the world. Table tennis, or ping pong, also enjoys huge popularity in China among sports lovers.

"In the movie, efforts made by the coaches and athletes touched me. Though they went through difficulties, they still fought for the glory. Like those coaches and athletes, ordinary people also pursue their dreams with great efforts, which is what the song is about," says Tang, who wrote the lyrics for the hit song Lonely Warrior, one of the most popular songs in 2022.

Another song, titled The Road to Glory, is also featured in the movie as its ending song. Produced by Yu Fei, the inspiring song also features a children choir. The singer has not been unveiled yet.

The movie's soundtrack is the first one in China that uses Dolby Atmos Object, an object-based sound technology, meaning that individual onscreen characters, items and even soundtrack instruments can be assigned to their own channels.