Champions Supreme Fighters will start the defence of their crown when they take on King Pong in the opening Group-A league match of the Mumbai Super League (MSL) Table Tennis Championships, organized by 11Even Sports Pvt. Ltd. under the auspices of MCDTTA and MSDTTA, and to be played at NSCI, Worli on Thursday, June 8.
Last year’s runners-up Kool Smashers will launch their campaign against Phantom Stars in the opening Group-B encounter.
All the leading players from the city will be seen in action during the four-day event, which promises to be more competitive and offers handsome prize-money to the winnings teams. The Champions stand to earn Rs. 1,80,000, the runners- up will receive Rs 1,20,000, while the team which finish 3rd & 4th will receive cash awards of Rs 70,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively.
There are 10 teams that will be vying for the top honours and each team will comprise of six players (one each — men, women, junior boys, junior girls, cadet boys and veteran). The 10 teams will be divided into 2 groups of 5 each. Each team will play all other teams in their respective group once and the top 2 teams from each group will qualify for the Semi-Finals and the winners will play the Finals. The semi-finals and final is scheduled to be played on Sunday, June 11.
Each match will consist of 9 rubbers and all the 9 matches have to be played in the group stage as each win has points. The men player will play 3 matches (1 singles & 2 doubles), women will play 2 matches (1 Singles & 1 doubles), Junior Boys – 2 matches (1 singles & 1 doubles), Junior Girls – 2 matches (1 singles & 1 doubles), Cadet Boys – 1 match (1 singles), Veterans – 2 matches (1 singles & 1 doubles).