Table tennis league returns with more attractive features
BY RAJES PAULKUALA LUMPUR: The national table tennis league is back after a two-year lapse. This time with bigger prize money, more teams and the women players given an equal role to play as men.
Yesterday, the Table Tennis Association of Malaysia (TTAM) held a draw for a nine-team field at their office in Taman Maluri. The league is a platform to keep the national trainees on their toes and also serves as an avenue to identify new talent.
Each team is allowed to have a maximum of seven players - men and women. They are also allowed to recruit one foreign player.
There will be four legs at four venues - Kulai, Johor (April 16-17), Kampar, Perak (May 21-22), Kuala Terengganu, Trengganu (July 16-17) and Klang, Selangor (Aug 20-21). The Grand Finals will be held in Kuala Lumpur from Sept 17-18.
TTAM secretary Chan Foong Keong said yesterday that they have secured enough funding to run the league for the next five years.
“We had our first try-out league in 2002. Eight teams participated and it was successful. But due to financial constraints then, we could not carry on. Now, we are back and have our own fund to run the event for at least five years,” said Foong Keong.
Foong Keong said that they did not have a separate league for the women players because the Malaysian women were on par with the men.
“Beh Lee Wei, for example, can challenge almost all the men paddlers in the national team and can even beat some of them. Some of the women players from China can also take on our men players. So, we decided to include both men and women in the team.
“In fact, we realised that a match between a woman and a man player draws the crowd. It is good for the development of the sport,” he said.
Last time each leg winners were awarded RM500. This year's leg winners of each leg will receive RM1,500.
The three favourites teams are Inti College Malaysia (ICM) powered by the Beh sisters - Lee Wei and Lee Fong, Accu Pro led by four internationals Chan Koon Wah, Mohd Shakirin Ibrahim, Chong Chit Sheng and Koh Mao Shen and the Kota Permai team who are banking on former internationals including former national champion Choo Sim Guan.
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