(by Steve Hopkins, photo MLTT)
The fourth Major League Table Tennis (MLTT) event was played this weekend in Bensenville, Illinois. Four teams competed over three days: Chicago Wind, Portland Paddlers, Princeton Revolution and the expansion New York Slice.
Friday: Slice vs. Revolution
The New York Slice entered the Golden Game with a 9-6 lead, which came as Koki Niwa won 2 of 3 against Benedek Olah, Choi Haeeun saved one of three against Jiangshan Guo, Kaden Xu and Jishan Liang recorded one of three against Koyo Kanamitsu and Jinxing Wang, Jishan Liang won 2 of 3 against Mathieu De Saintilan and Yiran Wu won all three against Jinxin Wang. This same pattern largely repeated itself in the Golden Game, with the Slice winning 21-14, giving them the overall match win by a score of 15-6.
Friday: Wind versus paddlers
Chicago Wind opened their weekend with a nail-biter against the Portland Paddlers. The two teams split the singles, with the Wind taking the first two Gardos and Mo Zhang winning 2 of 3 each) and the Paddlers winning the last two (Kumar taking 2 of 3 and Nordberg winning 3-0). Nikhil Kumar and Sid Naresh also won the doubles 3-0, so the Paddlers led 10-5 going into the 6-point Golden Game. The Golden Game was a close 21-19 in Portland’s favor, so the Paddlers recorded what looked like a dominant 16-5 victory, even though they could have easily lost the Golden Game (and the match) by just 2 points that turned out differently.
Saturday: Slice vs. Paddlers
The Slice continued their great run with a 15-6 win over the Paddlers. The Slice won three of four singles matches (and lost one singles match and one doubles match). They took a 9-6 lead in the Golden Game and dominated 21-15.
Saturday: Wind versus Revolution
Saturday night saw Chicago bounce back against the Princeton Revolution. The two teams shared the first two singles matches (Gardos won 3-0 for the Wind, then Jianshan Guo won 3-0 for the Revolution). The Revolution won 2 of 3 in doubles. Zhang then won 3-0 for the Wind, putting them two ahead, and then Olah took 2 of 3, making the score 8-7 (Wind advantage) for the Golden Game. De Wind dominated in the final exchange (21-15), which gave them a 14-7 victory.
Sunday: Revolution v. Paddlers
Sunday’s game between the Paddlers and the Revolution was entirely in Portland. Portland won the singles and saved 1 of 3 in the doubles. This gave them an 11-4 lead – with victory decided even before the Golden Game. The final exchange was just as dominant for the Paddlers, winning 21-9. The final score was a 17-4 win for Portland.
Sunday: Slice vs. Wind
The weekend final saw the 2-0 New York Slice against the hosts. The Slice won four of its first five matches, with Emmanuel Lebesson being the only Chicago Wind player to record a win. In MLTT, however, the Golden Game keeps any team alive as long as they can stay within six points – and that was the case here, as the Wind managed to maintain a 6-9 deficit to give them a chance. The Wind started strongly with Mo Zhang, extended their lead with Sean Zhang, saw a dominant performance from Emmanuel Lebesson and then sealed the win with Gardos and Cazacu. The Wind wins 21-13 and records a tight come-from-behind victory 12-9.
MLTT fans will next turn their attention to Pleasantville, New York, where the Week 5 event will take place from November 7 to 9. Tickets are on sale for the Princeton Revolution, Los Angeles Spinners, Texas Smash and New York Slice.
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