T2 Asia Pacific Table Tennis League 2017!

The new inaugural 'T2 Asia Pacific Table Tennis League' has been announced! Players will compete in the men's, women's and mixed-team events.

12 male players and 12 female players will be competing in the new league which has an impressive $1.5 million prize fund from July to December in Hong Kong!



The games will introduce several innovative ideas to change things up for the sport. To make the game more spectator-friendly, it will incorporate slow-motion presentation while adopting a player draft and a unique scoring system. Time limits of 24 minutes per match will be imposed on each match. These innovative concepts will be introduced in the hopes to improve spectators but hopefully great for the spectators.

Visit T2APAC's Website or Facebook Page for all the latest news on the T2APAC League.

There will be 6 rounds from June 27th to November 4th 2017.


Teams

Team Maze:
Timo Boll, Chen Chien-An, Aleksandr Shibaev
Feng Tianwei, Yang Haeun, Hina Hayata

Team JJ:
Vladimir Samsonov, Chuang Chih-Yuan, Tomokazu Harimoto
Wu Yang, Jeon Jihee, Matilda Ekholm

Team Persson:
Jun Mizutani, Joo Saehyuk, Mattias Karsson
Bernadette Szocs, Suthasini Sawettabut, Ding Ning

Team Rossi:
Dmitrij Ovtcharov, Shang Kun, Paul Drinkhall
Cheng I-Ching, Elizabeta Samara, Georgina Pota

Schedule

Round 1: June 28-30
Round 2: July 11-15
Round 3: Aug 1-5
Round 4: Sept 19-23
Round 5: Oct 3-7
Round 6: Oct 31-4

Paul Drinkhall quotes, "It's an honour to be asked, and I can't wait to compete! Bring it on!"
Feng Tianwei expressed, "This new, fresh format and player line-up should make it an interesting competition."

Which team do you think will win?

I do not like the idea of time limits either. I don't really know what kind of time limits they mean, but it could be problematic. Otherwise, I am excited for this, and hope that some more big names join the league! Hopefully my boy Jung Youngsik

This is so awesome!!¨Looking forward to high quality videos and streams D

Let's see how the time limit will affect the game and if they will keep it in.

I think they're trying to incorporate time limits, because matches can go for 30 mins to 50 mins or even an hour when best of 7 and it goes the distance and I suppose that wouldn't be that good for TV or for spectators.Though in my opinion, shortening the sets to 3, then 5 for a main draw of sorts seems better than a time limit.In the CTTSL you have the set goin til 7 instead of 11 in the deciders, so let's see what they'll do. Well anyhow, they can always change the rules as it seems they are still prototyping this league somewhat.

If this league is a success and attracts major sponsors it could be mimicked around the world!

I'm looking forward to the big events this year with TTX and to see how they unfold.

Maybe an old school Chinese player will enter

Originally Posted by Ma Long Superfan

Maybe an old school Chinese player will enter

Jiang Jialiang?

***Topic Update***

Timo Boll and Jun Mizutani are confirmed players for the T2 Asia Pacific Table Tennis League! More news here: https://www.tabletennisdaily.co.uk/f...Pacific-League!

There are 24 places up for grabs. 14 have been taken, there are 10 left.

Lets all play a guessing game

Who do you think will be the remaining 10?

I think the 24 participants will be....

Men:

1) Timo Boll
2) Jun Mizutani
3) Vladimir Samsonov
4) Joo See Hyuk
5) Paul Drinkhall
6) Chen Chien An
7) Aleksandr Shibaev
8) Zhang Jike
9) Marcos Freitas
10) Simon Gauzy
11) Tang Peng
12) Quadri Aruna


Female:

1) Feng Tianwei
2) Cheng I Ching
3) Jeon Ji Hee
4) Suthasini Sawettabut
5) Elizabeta Samara
6) Yang Ha Eun
7) Matilda Ekholm
8) Li Xiaoxia
9) Ai Fukuhara
10) Mima Ito
11) Sabine Winter
12) Bernadette Szcos

This is a total guess guys

Ai Fukuhara won't be, she is pretty much close to retired now
aka baby planning
Maybe will be back after birth, like Tie yana

I know He Zhi Wen is old but I hope he can still join that league. I really like his game.