04 Dec T2APAC Hot-Shots to come out with guns blazing

The inaugural T2 Asia-Pacific (T2APAC) Table Tennis League 2017 is fast drawing to a close with the Grand Finals to be held at the purpose-built T2Cavern at Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios in Johor Bahru on December 7-10.
The Grand Finals will see the regular season’s top two teams – Team Maze and Team Persson cross swords in one final showdown before the curtain comes down on the first ever T2APAC.

Each match-up in the Grand Finals will be pre-determined based on the players’ rankings in the individual standings, unlike the previous six-match rounds where the team captain gets to choose his player for respective match-ups.

Captain of Team Maze, Michael Maze will be looking to lead his team to one final victory en route to capturing the inaugural T2APAC title next week.

This will see much-traveled and experienced German Timo Boll of Team Maze up against Team Persson’s Japanese international Jun Mizutani which will undoubtedly be the highlight of the finals.

The other two men’s matches will pit Taiwan’s Chen Chien-An (Team Maze) against South Korean Joo Saehyuk (Team Persson) and Russian Aleksandr Shibaev (Team Maze) taking on Swede Mattias Karlsson (Team Persson).

The highest ranked women’s players in both teams, Team Maze’s Feng Tianwei, who used to represent China but now turns out for Singapore, and Team Persson’s Shi Xunyao of China will lock horns while 17-year-old Japanese Hina Hayata (Team Maze) goes up against Romanian Bernadette Szocs (Team Persson). South Korea’s Yang Haeun (Team Maze) takes on Thai star Suthasini Sawettabut (Team Persson).

“Sudah pastilah bertemu pasukan Persson dalam perlawanan akhir nanti adalah satu perlawanan yang sukar dijangka. Kami sudah mempamerkan permainan yang baik dan pastinya kami tidak mahu mensia-siakan peluang apabila beraksi di perlawanan akhir nanti.

“Of course the final against Team Persson will be an unpredictable encounter. We have performed well during the course of the season and after working so hard, we will make the most of being in the final,” said Michael Maze, captain of Team Maze.

“I also hope that we will get a rousing support from the fans during the final. We will need every support we can get to help propel us towards the championship,” added the Dane.

Team Persson’s Swedish skipper, Jorgen Persson, said: “We have beaten each other over the course of the season but this is the one that really counts. We have to start well and keep the momentum going. The pressure is immense but I have faith in my players who I believe can cope with the pressure and put on a performance worthy of champions.”

On paper, Team Maze looks to have the edge over their rivals having won three of their last six meetings and losing narrowly on two other occasions. Their last meeting ended in a high-scoring draw last month.

The Grand Finals will not only see the clash of the big guns for bragging rights but also the four title match-ups in the men’s and women’s categories.

All 24 players were subjected to grueling battles in the previous six rounds to secure a place in the top four of the men’s and women’s individual standings. It was Ukrainian-born Dimitrij Ovtcharov, Chuang Chih Yuan of Taiwan, Timo Boll and Belarusian Vladimir Samsonov who finished in the top four in men’s play while China’s Liu Fei, Shi Xunyao, Feng Tianwei and Bernadette Szocs were the top four in the women’s category.

In the men’s bracket, top seed Ovtcharov, who now resides in Germany will take on Samsonov, the oldest player in the tournament who is ranked fourth, while Chuang, who finished the regular season on a high to be seeded second, will be up against 36-year-old third seed Boll.

In women’s play, leader Liu Fei, who was on a mean streak powering into the Grand Finals, will take on fourth-seeded Szocs while Shi will play Feng in the battle between second and third-ranked players.

The team event winners collect a mouth-watering US$150,000 (RM615,625) in prize money while the runners-up pocket a lucrative US$60,000 (RM246,250). Champions of the individual events will take home US$40,000 (RM164,158) with the runners-up getting US$20,000 (RM82,079). Third/fourth placed finishers receive US$5,000 (RM20,520).