Hong Kong Sabre Duo Inspire Young Fencers in Demonstration Match

HONG KONG, Feb. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The “Fencing Plus” Training Programme, title-sponsored by CTF Life and organised by Kai Tak Sports Initiative (KTSI), has culminated in the Champions Cup (the Cup) and programme finale at the Kai Tak Arena. Since its launch in May 2025, the programme has received an enthusiastic response, attracting almost 800 participants in the initial stage, with nearly 170 of them advancing to compete in the Cup after several rounds of rigorous selection.

The top 20 performers in the Cup have been selected to join a 1.5-year elite training programme, with opportunities to progress into professional athlete development and will participate in local and regional competitions, paving the way for their future careers in the sport.

CTF Life Supports Young Fencing Athletes to Pursue Their Dreams

This is CTF Life’s inaugural title sponsorship of the KTSI “Fencing Plus” Training Programme as the exclusive Founding Insurance Partner of Kai Tak Sports Park (KTSP) and an active supporter of sports development in Hong Kong. The initiative underscores the Company’s commitment to providing high-quality, systematic training schemes to discover and nurture young athletes. The programme aims to promote a “Sports for All” culture and enhance athletes’ professional development, while encouraging healthy lifestyles and building a vibrant community. CTF Life • CIRCLE members were also able to take part in the programme for the first time.

Man Kit Ip, Executive Director and CEO of CTF Life, said: “CTF Life has a 40-year legacy in Hong Kong, and we have been playing an important role in society through our commitment to the community. By offering innovative and premium lifestyle experiences to our customers, we are creating value beyond insurance. Our title sponsorship of the KTSI ‘Fencing Plus’ Training Programme is a significant step in supporting Hong Kong sports development and nurturing local talent. We will continue to support emerging athletes to advance to the international stage to become future world champions, as we foster a healthy and vibrant community and encourage the public to embrace a healthy lifestyle, creating value beyond sportsmanship.”

Young Fencers Embark on Elite Training

The two-year KTSI “Fencing Plus” Training Programme is led by Head Coach, Antonio Lam, former Olympic Games representative of the Hong Kong Fencing Team and the Top Sabre Fencer in Hong Kong. Antonio is supported by a professional coaching team, delivering comprehensive and progressive training to the participating athletes. The programme is structured into five stages, and involves rigorous training regimes and evaluation mechanisms to nurture rising sports stars.

The Cup provides a valuable platform for participants to put their training into practice and learn from their peers. The top 20 fencers in the Cup will receive full sponsorship from CTF Life to undertake a 1.5-year, 216-hour elite training programme, starting in March. During this period, participants will take part in local ranking competitions and have the opportunity to join the Hong Kong Under-14 Cadet Pre team.

In his remarks, Tang King-shing, Director (Strategic Planning) of KTSP, said: “The KTSI ‘Fencing Plus’ Training Programme aims to support the long-term development of fencing in Hong Kong and to provide opportunities for underprivileged children to learn the sport. Through systematic and professional training, participants not only receive comprehensive coaching, but also have the chance to progress onto elite sports programmes in Hong Kong, laying a solid foundation for their future development as professional athletes. I would like to thank CTF Life for being the title sponsor of the programme, and I hope all the young fencers treasure this rare opportunity, by persevering on their fencing journey in order to shine.” 

Inspiration from Hong Kong Fencing Stars

To further inspire the participants, leading fencing athletes shared their insights and demonstrated their skills at the Cup. Zheng Kangzhao, Chief Coach of the Hong Kong Fencing Team; Ho Sze-long, silver medallist in Sabre at the 15th National Games of China; and Chan Lok-hei, two-time silver medallist at the Junior Fencing Championships in Hong Kong, were among the special guests. They interacted with the participants, sharing valuable competition and training experiences. Zheng Kangzhao also commented on the participants’ performance during the competition and shared his vision for nurturing Hong Kong’s next tier of fencing talent. Meanwhile, Ho Sze-long and Chan Lok-hei staged an exciting bout, demonstrating top-level fencing skills and allowing young fencers to appreciate elite technique at close range.

Chief Coach Zheng Kangzhao said: “Hong Kong fencing has achieved remarkable results in international competitions. In addition to a comprehensive training system, nurturing the next generation of athletes is equally important. If systematic fencing training can begin in childhood, it will help the coaching team identify talented athletes early on and enable them to offer appropriate and professional guidance. Focused talent development will help more outstanding athletes achieve even better results in major competitions.”

KTSI and CTF Life are currently planning the launch of the next edition of the “Fencing Plus” Training Programme to benefit more young people through professional training. Further details will be announced in due course.

Click here to download high-resolution photos; for more information on the training programme, please visit: “Fencing Plus” Training Programme – Kai Tak Sports Initiative

About CTF Life 
Chow Tai Fook Life Insurance Company Limited (“CTF Life”) is proud of its rich, 40-year legacy in Hong Kong. CTF Life is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CTF Services Limited (“CTFS”) (Hong Kong Stock Code: 659) and is one of the most well-established life insurance companies in Hong Kong. As a member of Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Limited, CTF Life consistently strengthens its collaboration with the Chow Tai Fook Group ecosystem to support customers and their loved ones in navigating life’s journey with personalised planning solutions, lifelong protection and diverse lifestyle experiences. By leveraging the Group’s robust financial strength and strategic investments across the globe, CTF Life aspires to become a leading insurance company in Asia while continuously creating value beyond insurance.

About Kai Tak Sports Park
Kai Tak Sports Park is the largest integrated sports, leisure, and entertainment landmark in Hong Kong. The 28-hectare Sports Park is part of the redevelopment of the former Hong Kong International Airport site in Kai Tak. The precinct features the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium, which has a retractable roof; the Kai Tak Arena, an indoor sports center with the flexibility to host community sports and events for up to 10,000 seats; and the Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground, an outdoor track and field facility with a capacity of 5,000 seats. These venues are complemented with extensive open spaces for events and leisure, together with dedicated retail and harbourfront dining spaces.

About Kai Tak Sports Initiative
Kai Tak Sports Initiative (KTSI) is a community sports project under Kai Tak Sports Park. We are devoted to promoting “Sport for All” as well as the physical and mental health of the Hong Kong community through organizing a variety of sports activities for people from all walks of life. KTSI has been working with over 100 partners, including National Sports Associations, sports associations, athletes, NGOs, and schools, to launch more than 200 community sports programmes, attracting around 220,000 participants since its establishment. The team has reached more than 82 primary and secondary schools, inspiring nearly 13,700 students to actively participate in sports.

As a registered charity in Hong Kong, KTSI is committed to building a mutifaceted learning platform to enhance public sports and health knowledge through creative, interactive, and fun approaches. While our programmes already cover various sports, we will collaborate with more partners to bring extraordinary sports experiences to HK citizens, creating a vibrant community together!

• Enterprise AI Operating System to unify context, orchestration, and execution, empowering governed AI Workers to autonomously complete real business tasks at scale.
• AI OS with Voice AI to enable natural, speech-to-speech interactions in ultra-low latency, allowing AI Workers to listen, interpret emotion, reason, and respond in real time.
• Live deployments across telecom, aviation, hospitality, and other enterprise operations are already delivering 30-40% autonomous resolution with full governance and auditability.

MUMBAI, India, Feb. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Commotion Inc., the leading AI-native enterprise startup backed by Tata Communications, today introduced a new AI Operating System (AI OS) built in collaboration with NVIDIA. Leveraging NVIDIA Nemotron™ open models along with the NVIDIA Riva library for advanced speech capabilities, the platform is designed to help enterprises move AI from pilots to production and complete business tasks autonomously backed by strong governance and measurable outcomes. Together, they enable enterprises to move beyond insights to intelligent action at scale.

Unlike conventional AI tools that generate insights but still depend on manual efforts, Commotion’s AI OS brings enterprise data together, coordinates decisions across systems, and enables AI workers to execute end-to-end tasks such as, handling customer service calls, resolving network issues, and improving guest experiences.

Enterprises are not short of AI tools. They are short of AI that can actually do the work. Enterprise AI agent deployments are in early stages, as many organizations today run multiple copilots and AI applications that don’t speak to each other. This means that data sits in silos and actions cannot be traced. And leaders hesitate to let AI drive decisions because there is no unified control, visibility or governance.

These are the gaps that Commotion addresses.

“The verdict from enterprises is clear: without a system that unifies context, AI remains a collection of experiments. Our challenge as an industry isn’t the lack of models or data; it’s that everything is disconnected,” said Murali Swaminathan, CEO, Commotion. “Companies have AI that can answer questions, but not AI that can act. We built an OS that gives AI the shared context and orchestration it needs to move from recommendation to execution.”

Commotion is working closely with NVIDIA to bring advanced NVIDIA Nemotron™ model capabilities into real enterprise environments.

These capabilities are combined with Commotion’s own context and orchestration layer, where AI Workers can understand that context, make decisions, and execute tasks across systems with speed and reliability.

Commotion’s AI OS gives enterprises a practical path to operational AI, with benefits that are immediate and measurable:

• AI that completes tasks, not just provides suggestions.
• Unified visibility across systems, data and AI actions.
• Faster customer interactions through real-time speech and reasoning.
• Stronger governance and auditability of every AI decision.
• Simpler operations as AI coordinates across tools and teams.
• Scalable deployment across regions, languages and business units.

The platform is built on Commotion’s proprietary context engineering layer, which continuously maps enterprise data and activity into a shared understanding that AI workers use to make decisions responsibly.

The foundation is further strengthened by a strategic investment from Tata Communications, whose secure global digital fabric infrastructure stack enables Commotion to deliver production-grade AI reliably across markets, including India and other high-growth regions. This combination of startup agility, Tata Communications’ enterprise trust and NVIDIA’s AI innovation, will create a powerful foundation for organisations looking to scale AI with confidence.

“This collaboration brings together cutting-edge AI, enterprise trust and real-world execution,” said A.S. Lakshminarayanan, MD & CEO, Tata Communications. “Commotion is solving a problem every enterprise faces: how to move AI from interesting demos to business-critical operations. We’re proud to be part of this mission in India and globally.”

Early engagements are already demonstrating promising results:

• A global telecom provider is resolving over 40% of operational issues autonomously, reducing resolution time by 35%.
• An international airline expects AI to handle 30% of inbound customer calls in year one.
• A global hospitality group is looking to increase direct bookings and upsell through AI-led guest engagement.
• An Indian automotive OEM is modernizing its global contact center and has 50% higher ROI with 30% lower cost/call and 60% less calls via elastic scaling in peak hours.

“Enterprises today need AI that doesn’t just analyze data, but can act responsibly at scale,” said Vishal Dhupar, Managing Director, Asia South, NVIDIA. “Commotion’s AI OS powered by our NVIDIA Nemotron™ reasoning models, enables AI workers that can understand the context, make decisions, and execute tasks across industries – from telecom to aviation.”

The announcement also aligns with the Government of India’s AI vision. Commotion, Tata Communications and NVIDIA are working together to help Indian enterprises deploy AI that works across languages, locations and complex infrastructure.

Through the initiative, Commotion positions AI not merely as a tool to assist employees, but as a governed, reliable digital workforce that can help enterprises run faster, smarter and more efficiently than ever before.

Commotion’s AI OS and Voice AI solutions are now available for enterprise customers. Get in touch with us at info@gocommotion.com.

About Commotion

Commotion is an AI-native enterprise platform that turns AI from talk into action. Built on a unified context graph and omnichannel orchestration layer, Commotion enables organizations to deploy autonomous AI Workers that understand context, reason in real time, and safely execute tasks across customer-facing and operational workflows. Commotion helps enterprises move from AI experimentation to production-grade automation at global scale. Learn more at www.gocommotion.com.

About Tata Communications

A part of the Tata Group, Tata Communications (NSE: TATACOMM) (BSE: 500483) is a global digital ecosystem enabler powering today’s fast-growing digital economy in more than 190 countries and territories. Leading with trust, it enables digital transformation of enterprises globally with collaboration and connected solutions, core and next gen connectivity, cloud hosting and security solutions and media services. 300 of the Fortune 500 companies are its customers and the company connects businesses to 80% of the world’s cloud giants. For more information, please visit www.tatacommunications.com      

Forward-looking and cautionary statements

Certain words and statements in this release concerning Tata Communications and its prospects, and other statements, including those relating to Tata Communications’ expected financial position, business strategy, the future development of Tata Communications’ operations, and the general economy in India, are forward-looking statements. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including financial, regulatory and environmental, as well as those relating to industry growth and trend projections, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of Tata Communications, or industry results, to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from such forward-looking statements include, among others, failure to increase the volume of traffic on Tata Communications’ network; failure to develop new products and services that meet customer demands and generate acceptable margins; failure to successfully complete commercial testing of new technology and information systems to support new products and services, including voice transmission services; failure to stabilize or reduce the rate of price compression on certain of the company’s communications services; failure to integrate strategic acquisitions and changes in government policies or regulations of India and, in particular, changes relating to the administration of Tata Communications’ industry; and, in general, the economic, business and credit conditions in India. Additional factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from such forward-looking statements, many of which are not in Tata Communications’ control, include, but are not limited to, those risk factors discussed in Tata Communications Limited’s Annual Reports. 

The Annual Reports of Tata Communications Limited are available at www.tatacommunications.com. Tata Communications is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements.

© 2026 Tata Communications Ltd. All rights reserved.

TATA COMMUNICATIONS and TATA are trademarks or registered trademarks of Tata Sons Private Limited.

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TOKYO, Feb. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — LIXIL Corporation (“LIXIL”, TSE Code: 5938), maker of pioneering water and housing products, today announced that it has achieved its ambitious goal of improving sanitation and hygiene for 103 million people^[1]. Achieving this milestone, the primary target of the Global Sanitation and Hygiene pillar of LIXIL’s Impact Strategy and set in 2016, reinforces LIXIL’s commitment to further accelerating sanitation and hygiene access worldwide.

Safe sanitation and hygiene remain among the most urgent global challenges. Approximately 3.4 billion people^[2] still lack access to safely managed sanitation, including 354 million people^[3] practicing open defecation. Furthermore, approximately 1.7 billion people^[4] do not have basic hygiene services at home. The human cost is devastating: more than 1,000 children under the age of five die every day from diseases spread by unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation, and inadequate hygiene.

These systematic failures result in hundreds of billions of dollars in annual losses from reduced productivity and higher healthcare costs. Yet, there is an untapped opportunity: every $1 invested in sanitation yields a fivefold economic return.

LIXIL’s achievement is the result of shipping more than 10 million SATO toilet and hand hygiene products across 59 countries and territories. By establishing a social business and serving underserved communities with affordable and innovative sanitation and hygiene solutions, LIXIL’s SATO has successfully developed sanitation markets in Africa and Asia. Predominantly reaching sub-Saharan Africa and south and southeast Asia, SATO’s business not only reaches households, it also expands the impact in communities through critical non-household settings including schools and healthcare facilities, and most recently in humanitarian settings such as refugee camps.

“Reaching 103 million people is not a finish line, but powerful proof that the private sector plays a critical role in addressing an urgent global issue,” said Kinya Seto, CEO of LIXIL. “While LIXIL is renowned for high-end innovations, we take equal pride in our affordable SATO solutions. By establishing a social business, we are addressing the sanitation and hygiene challenges at scale, not only improving health, but empowering families with security and peace of mind they deserve to build their livelihoods and prosper.

Our journey is one of learning and partnership. We are grateful to the families and partners who have welcomed our solutions into their homes and communities. Seeing first-hand how simple, safe toilets can restore dignity and improve quality of life deepens our commitment. Our role is to serve as a catalyst, supporting the resilience and potential of every community we reach.”

The Power of Collaboration
In collaboration with a diverse range of partners—including governments, international organizations, NGOs, and private sector players—LIXIL is focused on creating resilient and sustainable sanitation markets in global economies and rural communities. A cornerstone of our progress is the ‘Make a Splash!‘ partnership with UNICEF, UNICEF’s first global shared-value partnership for water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), and the first of its kind with a Japanese company.

This collaboration combines LIXIL’s expertise in product development and supply chains with UNICEF’s strengths in sanitation programming and changing behavior through community education. The partnership empowers a robust, self-sustaining ecosystem comprising local entrepreneurs and masons, community healthcare workers, manufacturers, and retailers to ensure sanitation and hygiene for all.

Going Forward: Evolved Ambition toward 2030
“Reaching 100 million people is a significant milestone, representing the impact on individuals and communities, and it is also a vital transition point.” said Erin McCusker, Leader of SATO. “The global goal of universal access to safe sanitation and hygiene by 2030 demands unprecedented acceleration. We see sanitation as a foundation for the achievement of many other development goals. LIXIL’s upcoming 2030 targets will reinforce our commitment to deliver private-sector innovation and market-driven models essential to making better homes a reality for everyone, everywhere.”

To learn more about LIXIL’s initiatives on sanitation and hygiene: visit here.

CONTACT: pr_global@lixil.com