Suthasini to Join Inaugural T2 Asia-Pacific Table Tennis League
Singapore, January 13, 2017 – T2 Asia-Pacific (T2 APAC) have officially announced the first batch of 13 players hand-picked to be part of the new elite table tennis league launching in Hong Kong in the second half of 2017.
The players include current women’s World No.5 and multiple Olympic medalist Feng Tianwei (Singapore), sixth-ranked Cheng I-Ching of Chinese Taipei and on the men’s side, the evergreen World No.8 Vladimir Samsonov (Belarus), a six-time Olympian and semi-finalist at Rio 2016.
“The unique concept of T2 APAC promises to bring the sport of table tennis to a whole new level and I am delighted to be part of this exciting competition before I hang up my paddles for good,” said Samsonov, 40, who also doubles-up as the Director of Player Operations at T2 APAC.
Other notable names include World No.15 Joo Saehyuk of Korea, who is widely regarded as the world’s best defensive men’s player, former World Junior Table Tennis Championship singles champion Chen Chien-An (Chinese Taipei), who also won the men’s doubles at the 2013 World Table Tennis Championships in Paris alongside compatriot Chuang Chih-Yuan, England’s top player Paul Drinkhall, gold medalist in the mixed doubles with his wife Joanna at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, as well as three-time European Champion Elizabeta Samara (Romania) and Yang Ha Eun of Korea, who was a mixed doubles champion at the 2015 World Table Tennis Championships partnering China’s Xu Xin.
Rounding up the first player signings are former European Championships medalists Aleksandr Shibaev (Russia), Georgina Póta (Hungary) and Matilda Ekholm (Sweden), as well as women’s World No. 13 Jeon Jihee of Korea and 23-year old Thai sensation and reigning Southeast Asian Games women’s singles gold medalist Suthasini Sawettabut.
“After sharing the concept of T2 APAC with many of the top players from all over the world in the past few months, we are very excited to unveil our first batch of players who have signed on for the inaugural season,” said Jeff Chue, CEO & Commissioner of T2 APAC.
“We are confident that with the multi-faceted cast we have put together so far, the fans will be in for a fantastic season of T2 APAC action, and we will unveil the rest of our Season 1 line-up very soon.”
The inaugural T2 Asia-Pacific Table Tennis League 2017 will feature 24 world-class players (12 men’s and 12 women’s players) hand-picked from around the world, with the players competing in separate but concurrent men’s, women’s, and mixed-team league competitions.
Showcasing a unique competition model and presentation format, as well as innovative features such as a player draft system, 24-minute matches and a unique scoring system to ensure a level playing field and unpredictability of outcome, audiences and fans around the world can expect edge-of-your-seat competitive excitement throughout the season.
Touted as the richest competition in today’s professional table-tennis calendar, the players will be battling for an unprecedented prize purse of more than USD 1.5 million in the inaugural season. With 13 of the 24 players announced, only 11 slots (4 women’s and 7 men’s) in the inaugural T2 APAC player roster remain, and more players are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
