by Simon Daish
China’s Ding Ning is one of the strongest female players that the sport has ever seen, and is the current Olympic champion having won the Women’s Singles gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
In a report on the official T2APAC website, Ding Ning stated that she is delighted to be joining the league and is excited by the event’s unique rules format.
“I am truly honored to be part of this first-ever event. The tournament promises to be very competitive with so many world-class players in the tournament, which will motivate me to do my best. But I am looking forward to the team selection and new scoring format that will make it very interesting to players, viewers and fans, and raise the level of interest in table tennis around the world,” Ding Ning.
Unlike a traditional match of table tennis, the T2APAC will feature a 24 minute time limit with players aiming to claim as many games as possible in the space of time.
Also as stated on the T2APAC official website, all players will play in separate but concurrent singles and mixed-team championships in a league format. All players will go through a draft selection process which will be selected by Team Captains.
Ding Ning is currently in the German city of Düsseldorf where she will attempt to defend her Women’s Singles crown at the Liebherr 2017 World Championships, and the T2APAC Chairman Frank Ji believes that the signing of the Chinese star will greatly raise the league’s profile.
“We are delighted to have a serial winner and the world’s best women’s table tennis player taking part in the T2APAC, topping off some of the biggest names in world table tennis. This definitely raises the bar in terms of the competition as well as elevating the stature of the event. We’re confident her participation will raise even greater awareness in the tournament, especially in Asia”, Frank Ji.