Chicago Rosters Revealed & Power Rankings Reviewed
Matilda Ekholm and new USATT #1 Daniel Gorak lead the first-place Florida Crocs into the 3rd weekend of play in the Eastern Division on November 10-12 in Chi-Town.
November 3, 2023. With exactly a week before the Eastern Division teams take to the arena floor in Chicago’s Wintrust Sports Complex (get your tickets HERE), we have once again been granted by MLTT an early look at the official team rosters…and what we’re seeing is that every team - Chicago, Carolina, Florida and Princeton - will be at what can essentially be described as full strength. Availability is the best ability! Have a look yourselves, pongheads:
So it promises to be an all-out, no holds barred weekend of drama. The Carolina Gold Rush, much to the relief of Coach Alex Yang, find themselves once again with the services of young French wizard Bastien Dupont, looking to Avada Kedavra his muggle opponents after missing week two action in Moaning Myrtle Beach. The inimitable Enzo Angles is back, behind the back, and back in Carolina black…and he will lead the Gold Rush charge with week 2 Player of the Week Hong Lin, who apparently made it through that awkward car ride home from Myrtle Beach with husband Jishan Lin of Princeton. Coach Frank Arias and the division-chompin’ Florida Crocs look to open up some space between them and the pack, led by their #1 and newly-minted top rated US player Daniel Gorak (also fresh off his win at the 2023 Chicago Edgeball International Open, defeating a big-time legend in Greece’s Kalinikos “Backhand of The Gods” Kreanga in the finals). Coach Eric Owens’ Chicago Wind look to harness the prevailing hometown advantage and blow up the standings with a number of their players (Damien Provost and Daniele Pinto in particular) in excellent form. And finally, it’s an early season must-win type scenario for Coach Mathias Habesohn and the Princeton Revolution, as they righted the ship in week 2 but need a big winning weekend to erase their disastrous start to the season. They will call upon their new baby daddy Jinxin Wang (who might be playing on zero sleep) to rock the cradle in Chi-Town. Princeton has already acquired the year 2041 draft rights to his new son, Max Wang!
MLTT released its updated Power Rankings after week 2 play in the Western Division and despite some hiccups in Texas, Portland’s King Kou still reigns supreme, with a power trio of Eastern Division alpha males in pursuit.
With the requirement that players have played a minimum of 4 team matches, a number of “one hit wonders” have been moved off the MLTT’s Power Ranking list, much like hitters in the MLB without the requisite number of at-bats. Portland Paddler’s mighty Kou Lei’s seemingly impenetrable armor was dinged by Lashin “Kingslayer” Elsayed, and again in the now-legendary Golden Game Golden Point by Seattle Spinners’ Aditya Sareen, which set off the celebration heard ‘round the table tennis world.
The serve no one wants to face. King Kou may no longer be undefeated but he still sits atop the MLTT’s power ranking list…in part due to the most dominant service game in the league.
King Kou retains the crown for now, but a trio of top guns from the east are all within striking distance, as #2 Enzo Alles, #3 Daniel Gorak, and #4 Damien Provost (not to mention #5 Ojo Onaolapo) could all conceivably take over the throne with a stellar Chicago weekend. A few other big movers of note….welcome to the Top 10, Kingslayer, as Lashin Elsayed moves up 5 spots to #9…likewise, former FA-turned-Revolutionary-turned-Bay Area Blaster Senura Silva, much to his delight, takes the #10 spot with his second consecutive thrilling performance. #18 Tao Wenzhang and #19 Jiwei Xia both had solid weekends in Texas and are rewarded with big jumps into the Top 20. You can check out the MLTT’s ranking page for yourself here.
That’s it for now, pongheads. The editors have plans for at least one more article before the Chicago event, most likely a wrap-up of MLTT athletes’ performances at the Pan Am Games and elsewhere around the world (we see you, Daniele Pinto @ WTT FEEDER OTOCEC!).
