T.League

The T.League (Japanese: Tリーグ; Romaji: T.Rīgu) or Nojima T.League (Japanese: ノジマTリーグ) is the premier table tennis league of Japan which began in 2018. It is the first professional table tennis league in Japan.[1] There are twelve teams, six each for men and women.

Teams

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Men's teams

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Name Prefecture Head coach
T.T. Saitama (T.T彩たま) Saitama Prefecture Japan Ryūsuke Sakamoto (坂本竜介)
Kinoshita Meister Tokyo (木下マイスター東京) Tokyo Germany Qiu Jianxin (邱建新)
Kanazawa Port (金沢ポート) Kanazawa
Shizuoka Jade (静岡ジェード) Shizuoka
Okayama Rivets (岡山リベッツ) Okayama Prefecture Japan Kōsuke Shiraga (白神宏佑)
Ryukyu Asteeda (琉球アスティーダ) Okinawa Prefecture Japan Kazuhiro Chang (張一博)

Women's teams

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Name Prefecture Head coach
Kinoshita Abyell Kanagawa (木下アビエル神奈川) Kanagawa Prefecture Rui Nakazawa (中澤鋭)
Top Otome Pingpongs Nagoya (トップおとめピンポンズ名古屋) Aichi Prefecture Japan Hideo Fujikawa (藤川英雄)
Nissay Red Elf (日本生命レッドエルフ) Osaka Prefecture Japan Yasukazu Murakami (村上恭和)
Nippon Paint Mallets (日本ペイントマレッツ) Osaka Prefecture Japan Takahiro Mihara (三原孝博)
Kyushu Asteeda (九州アスティーダ) Fukuoka Prefecture Japan Kawatsura Hajime (川面創)
Kyoto Kaguyalyze (京都カグヤライズ) Kyoto Prefecture Japan Haruhiko Ikebukuro (池袋 晴彦)

Stadiums

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Format and rules

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Each team match features one doubles match and at least three singles matches. If the score after four matches is 2–2, an extra-time, single-game "victory match" will determine the winner.[1] T.League rules differ from international table tennis rules.[2]

Match 1 Doubles Best of 3 Score starts at 6–6 for the final game
Play to 11 points only (i.e. 11–10 wins) for non-final games
Match 2 Singles Best of 5
Match 3
Match 4
"Victory match" 1 game

Match 1 players may not play in Match 2. Matches 2, 3, and 4 must feature different players for both teams.[2]

Results

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Men's division

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Season Winner Runner-up MVP Best doubles pair
2018–19[3][4] Tokyo
(14W–7L)
Okayama
(12W–9L)
Season & 2nd half: Japan Jun Mizutani[5] (Tokyo)
1st half: Japan Tomokazu Harimoto[6] (Tokyo)
Japan Masataka Morizono
Japan Jin Ueda (Okayama)
2019–20
Finals not held
Tokyo
(15W–6L)
Ryukyu
(11W–10L)
Season & 1st half: China Hou Yingchao[7] (Tokyo)
2nd half: Japan Takuya Jin[8] (Saitama)
Japan Kenta Tazoe
Japan Yukiya Uda (Tokyo)[9]

Women's division

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Season Winner Runner-up MVP Best doubles pair
2018–19[3][4] Nissay
(18W–3L)
Kanagawa
(13W–8L)
Season & 1st half: Japan Hina Hayata[6] (Nissay)
2nd half: Japan Kasumi Ishikawa[5] (Kanagawa)
China Chang Chenchen
China Jiang Hui (Nissay)
2019–20
Finals not held
Nissay
(14W–7L)
Kanagawa
(13W–8L)
Season & 2nd half: Japan Sakura Mori (Nissay)[9]
1st half: Thailand Suthasini Sawettabut[7] (Nippon Paint)
South Korea Yang Ha-eun
Japan Rika Suzuki (Nagoya)

References

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  1. ^ a b Nagatsuka, Kaz (October 23, 2018). "T.League primed to kick off inaugural season". The Japan Times. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "About Tリーグ". T.League (in Japanese). Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  3. ^ a b "ノジマTリーグ 2018-2019シーズン 順位表". T.League (in Japanese). Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  4. ^ a b "ノジマTリーグ 2018-2019シーズン 優勝 および シーズン表彰 受賞記念グッズ 受注販売開始のお知らせ". T.League (in Japanese). Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  5. ^ a b "「ノジマTリーグ 2018-2019シーズン後期 ノジマMVP賞」を 男子・水谷隼(KM東京)、女子・石川佳純(KA神奈川)が受賞". T.League (in Japanese). 13 March 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  6. ^ a b "「ノジマTリーグ 2018-2019シーズン前期 ノジマMVP賞」を 男子・張本智和(KM東京)、女子・早田ひな(日本生命)が受賞". T.League (in Japanese). 29 January 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  7. ^ a b "ノジマTリーグ 2019-2020シーズン レギュラーシーズン 「ノジマTリーグ 2019-2020シーズン前期 ノジマMVP賞」を男子・ホウ エイチョウ(KM東京)女子・サウェータブット スターシニー(ニッペM)が受賞". T.League (in Japanese). 23 January 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  8. ^ "「ノジマTリーグ 2019-2020シーズン後期 ノジマMVP賞」を男子・神 巧也(T.T彩たま)、女子・森 さくら(日本生命)が受賞" (in Japanese). 15 May 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  9. ^ a b "ノジマTリーグ 2019-2020シーズン リーグ表彰". T.League (in Japanese). 15 May 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2020.

Official site

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