(by Steve Hopkins, photos Bowmar Sports)
The East Division’s Carolina Gold Rush had the best regular season record, a comfortable three game lead over Princeton Revolution. The West Division leaders were only a game apart, so it took until the final weekend to decide that the Bay Area Blasters would be in first position and the Texas Smash would be in second.
The geographical reach of the teams in the Final Four couldn’t have been much better with Carolina from the Southeast, Princeton from the Northeast, the Blasters from the San Francisco Bay area of the Pacific Northwest, and the Texas Smash from the Southwest. And as the proverbial cherry on top, the MLTT Finals were played in Chicago, one of America’s largest Midwest cities.
The Semifinals were played in Chicago with the two second place Divisional finishers each winning. This pitted the Texas Smash against the Princeton Revolution to decide the first Major League Table Tennis winners. For Texas, they led with Hiromitsu Kasahara who defeated Princeton’s Jishan Liang to secure a 3-0 lead. Texas’s Nandan Naresh then took 2 of 3 over Princeton’s Koyo Kanamitsu to give Texas a 5-1 lead. In Doubles, it was Hiromitsu Kasahara teaming with Amy Wang to win three in a row over Jishan Liang and Angela Guan – giving Texas an 8-1 lead. Princeton’s Mathieu De Saintilan won 2 of 3 over Yoan Rebetez tightening the score a little – Texas led 9-3. In the final singles match, Texas’ David McBeath won 2 of 3 over Jinxin Wang to give the Texas Smash a commanding 11-4 lead going into the Golden Game. And, in the Golden Game – where all five players sub in and out every four points until one team reaches a combined team score of 21 – Texas took 10 of the 13 points played pushing their squad to a 21-7 win.
The Texas Smash took the inaugural MLTT Cup, but the list of “winners” is much longer. The United States is one of the largest countries in the World, and it has been without a true national league. MLTT managed to stage over 90 professional table tennis matches in front of American audiences. Those matches were viewable via streaming, had funded marketing support, and were carefully places throughout the country (in 9 different States: California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, New Jersey, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington).
Any professional opportunities are important to the players. MLTT brought in players from Egypt, France, Japan, Poland, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, and others. These players were able to showcase their talent along with all of the great American (and American-based) players that filled out the rosters. The great management team also were able to bring in investors and sponsors (including Butterfly, Travel Katy, Flywire, Visit Myrtle Beach, MagBak, PNW Sports, Manscaped, and Everett Washington) to further raise awareness and bring true quality to the events.
Its also important to note that MLTT didn’t just follow existing models for leagues or events. They were careful to bring the sport to a wide audience, sometimes seeking venues outside of the normal cities that host table tennis events regularly. The team matches were staged creatively so that multiple matches could be played at one venue. The format of the teams was forward thinking – coed team members and a mixture of Americans and foreign players. Even the format of the matches was innovative – with shortened games to break ties and a Golden Game that keeps teams in the competition until the last possible moment (and that has the potential to create pressure and explosive excitement at the end even if one team has dominated the early portions of the match).
The Texas Smash are the 2024 inaugural MLTT Cup winners – but the entire American table tennis community are winners.
