by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
The most successful to date is Team Maze represented by Timo Boll, Chen Chien-An, Alexander Shibaev, Feng Tianwei, Hina Hayata and Yang Haeun; they have just one defeat against their name when losing 12-14 to the Team Persson outfit formed by Mattias Karlsson, Joo Saehyuk, Jun Mizutani, Ding Ning, Bernadette Szocs and Suthasini Sawettabut.
Overall Team Maze has won 90 games, with Team Persson having 88 to their credit; most notably Chen Chien-An, Alexander Shibaev and Timo Boll are the three most successful male players in the tournament.
A close win for Team Persson but no fixture was closer than the first round contest between Team Rossi and Team JJ; as the names suggest the former being under the direction of Jörg Rosskopf, the latter being coached by Jiang Jialiang.
Proceedings concluded with matters even; each team winning 12 games. Team Rossi fielded Paul Drinkhall, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Shang Kun, alongside the female trio of Cheng I-Ching, Georgina Pota and Elizabeta Samara; for Team JJ, the outfit comprised Chuang Chih-Yuan, Tomokazu Harimoto and Vladimir Samsonov in addition to Matilda Eckholm, Jeon Jihee and Wu Yang.
Alas for Team Rossi, they have yet to record a win but with four rounds remaining there is still plenty of time. The team records 67 games won; for Team JJ they total 76 in number.
Notably, alongside Jun Mizutani, Wu Yang emerged victorious in all three matches played in the first round. In the second round Wu Yang was replaced by Sun Yingsha who experienced just one defeat. Meanwhile, for Jun Mizutani in round two it was a complete reversal; he lost all three matches!
Similarly in round two, Wang Manyu filled the shoes of Ding Ning and emerged the only player to record wins in each of her three matches; also, Shang Kun was replaced by Wang Chuqin.
Furthermore, in the interests of the competition, for Team Maze against Team JJ, a 15-12 win for the former, Hina Hayata competed in two matches owing to the illness of Yang Haeun.
T2 Asia Pacific League: Round One (Wednesday 28th – Friday 30th June)
T2 Asia Pacific League: Round Two (Wednesday 12th – Saturday 15th July)
T2 Asia Pacific League: Dedicated Website
FORMAT OF PLAY
Teams
Team JJ: Chuang Chih-Yuan, Tomokazu Harimoto, Vladimir Samsonov, Matilda Ekholm, Jeon Jihee, Wu Yang (Sun Yingsha replaced Wu Yang for Round Two) Coach: Jiang Jialiang
Team Maze: Timo Boll, Chen Chien-An, Alexander Shibaev, Feng Tianwei, Hina Hayata, Yang Haeun Coach: Michael Maze
Team Persson: Mattias Karlsson, Joo Saehyuk, Jun Mizutani, Ding Ning, Bernadette Szocs and Suthasini Sawettabut. (Wang Manyu replaced Ding Ning for Round Two)  Coach: Jörgen Persson
Team Rossi: Paul Drinkhall, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Shang Kun alongside the female trio of Cheng I-Ching, Georgina Pota and Elizabeta Samara (Wang Chuqin replaced Shang Kun for Round Two) Coach: Jörg Rosskopf
Schedule
Round One: Wednesday 28th June – Friday 30th June
Round Two: Tuesday 11th July – Saturday 15th July
Round Three: Tuesday 1st August – Saturday 5th August
Round Four: Tuesday 19th September – Saturday 23rd September
Round Five: Tuesday 3rd October – Saturday 7th October
Round Six: Tuesday 31st October – Saturday 4th November
Grand Finals: Thursday 7th December – Saturday 9th December
Fixtures
In each round each team plays against each other
In each fixture each player competes in one match; men versus men, women versus women
Each match is 24 minutes
The first player to 11 points wins the match, if the score reaches 10-all; the player who secures the next point is declared the winner
Each game won contributes to the player’s standing and the team’s standing
The player in the lead when the buzzer declares “Time” wins the game
After the end of the second game, the clock stops for one minute
A coach may call one “Time Out” per match; the clock stops for one minute
If a game ends and there is less than two minutes left, the “kill zone” rule applies. The first player to win five points is declared the winner of that game
Grand Finals
The top four men and top four women, in addition to the top two teams will be invited to the Grand Finals.