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October 26, 2025

(by Steve Hopkins, photo MLTT)

The Fourth Major League Table Tennis (MLTT) event was played in Bensenville, Illinois this weekend.  Four teams battled over three days: Chicago Wind, Portland Paddlers, Princeton Revolution, and the expansion New York Slice.

Friday: Slice vs. Revolution

The New York Slice entered the Golden Game with a 9-6 advantage that came from Koki Niwa winning 2 of 3 over Benedek Olah, Choi Haeeun saving one of three against Jiangshan Guo, Kaden Xu and Jishan Liang logging one of three against Koyo Kanamitsu and Jinxing Wang, Jishan Liang taking 2 of 3 against Mathieu De Saintilan, and Yiran Wu winning all three against Jinxin Wang.  This same pattern largely repeated itself in the Golden Game with the Slice winning 21-14, giving them the overall match win with a 15-6 score.

Friday: Wind vs. Paddlers

Chicago Wind opened their weekend with a nail-biter against the Portland Paddlers. The two squads split singles with the Wind taking the first two Gardos and Mo Zhang each won 2 of 3) and the Paddlers winning the last two (Kumar took 2 of 3 and Nordberg won 3-0).  Nikhil Kumar and Sid Naresh won Doubles 3-0 as well, so the Paddlers were up 10-5 going into the 6-point Golden Game.  The Golden Game was tight 21-19 in Portlandâ€s favor, so the Paddlers logged what looked like a dominant 16-5 win, even though they could have easily lost the Golden Game (and the match) with just 2 points turning out differently.

Saturday: Slice vs. Paddlers

The Slice continued their great run with a 15-6 win over the Paddlers.  The Slice won three of the four singles matches (and lost one singles match and doubles).  They took a 9-6 lead into the Golden Game, and dominated 21-15.

Saturday: Wind vs. Revolution

Saturday night saw Chicago bounce back against the Princeton Revolution. The two squads split the first two singles (Gardos won 3-0 for the Wind, then Jianshan Guo won 3-0 for the Revolution).  The Revolution won 2 of 3 in Doubles.  Zhang then won 3-0 for the Wind to put them up two, and then Olah took 2 of 3 making the score 8-7 (advantage Wind) going in to the Golden Game.  The Wind dominated in the final exchange (21-15) giving them a 14-7 win.

Sunday: Revolution v. Paddlers

The matchup between the Paddlers and the Revolution was all-Portland on Sunday.  Portland swept the singles, and salvaged 1 of 3 in Doubles.  This gave them an 11-4 advantage – with the victory already decided before the Golden Game.  The final exchange was just as dominant for the Paddlers, winning 21-9.  The final score was a 17-4 statement win for Portland.

Sunday: Slice vs. Wind

The weekend finale featured the 2-0 New York Slice against the hosts.  The Slice won four of the five initial matches, with Emmanuel Lebesson the only Chicago Wind player to log a win.  However, in MLTT, the Golden Game keeps each team alive so long as they can stay within 6 points – and that was the case here as the Wind managed to preserve a 6-9 deficit to give them a chance.  The Wind began strong with Mo Zhang, extended their lead with Sean Zhang, saw a dominant performance by Emmanuel Lebesson, and then sealed the victory with Gardos and Cazacu.  The Wind win 21-13, and manage a tight, come-from-behind win 12-9.

MLTT fans will next turn their attention towards Pleasantville, New York where the Week 5 event will take place November 7-9.  Tickets are on sale to see the Princeton Revolution, Los Angeles Spinners, Texas Smash, and New York Slice.

Visit Butterflyonline.com for the latest table tennis news and results.

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KL Rahul scored a fifty in the second innings as India beat West Indies in the second Test at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. (AP) India secured a 2-0 series sweep against the West Indies in the second Test at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday, reaching the 121-run target with 7 wickets to spare.India entered the fifth and final day of the Test needing 58 runs and got the job done without much fuss. KL Rahul remained unbeaten on 58 alongside Dhruv Jurel (6). Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill fell on the day as India sauntered to victory. The hosts had also lost Yashasvi Jaiswal cheaply on Day 4 in chase of the small total.After the shock series loss to New Zealand last year, India have turned things around at home by sealing a sweep. The Shubman Gill-led side had won the first Test in Ahmedabad by an innings and 140 runs.Latest WTC standingsTeamsMatchesWonLostTiedDrawnDeductionPTPCTAustralia33000036100.00Sri Lanka2100101666.67India7420105261.90England5220122643.33Bangladesh201010416.67West Indies50500000.00New Zealand00000000.00Pakistan00000000.00South Africa00000000.00Despite the win, India remain third in the World Test Championship standings with four wins, two defeats and a draw from the seven matches. That took their percentage of points won to 61.90, behind Australia (100.0) and Sri Lanka (66.67).West Indies, meanwhile, have now suffered five consecutive defeats to begin the 2025-27 WTC standings. They had earlier been blanked 0-3 by Australia at home.India’s attempt at closing out the contest was delayed a day prior by battling centuries from John Campbell and Shai Hope. At stumps on day four, India reached 63/1, having bowled out the West Indies for 390.The West Indies showed remarkable resilience earlier in the day, with Justin Greaves scoring an unbeaten 50 and forming a stubborn 79-run last-wicket partnership with Jayden Seales (32).Campbell (115) and Hope (103) had earlier steered West Indies into the lead, combining for a 177-run third-wicket partnership after resuming the day at 173/2 while following on.Campbell reached his maiden Test century with a six off Ravindra Jadeja before falling lbw to the same bowler in the morning session.Hope achieved his first Test hundred in eight years with a boundary off Mohammed Siraj but was soon dismissed when he dragged the ball onto his stumps.Kuldeep Yadav, who had taken five wickets in the first innings, added three more to his tally including the crucial wicket of captain Roston Chase for 40.The Indian bowlers had to toil for more than 200 overs on a slow pitch that proved challenging for the bowling side.”Good to be bowling long spells and heartening to have taken 20 West Indies wickets,” Indian spinner Washington Sundar told reporters. “We got to be really fit and on top of our game. In Test cricket you honestly expect most of the Test matches to go till the fifth day and challenge you in every way possible.”India had enforced the follow-on after dismissing West Indies for 248 in their first innings, trailing India’s declared total of 518-5 by 270 runs.

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“From the outside, it seems crazy,†Jarell Quansah says, as he reflects on his summer just gone, when dizzying change felt like a constant. “But it is one of them … football is a crazy game.â€

A quick recap. Days after winning the European Under-21 Championship with England at the end of June, Quansah decided to leave Liverpool, his boyhood club, to go to Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The big fee equalled big pressure as the 22-year-old was charged with finding his feet in a new country and at a club where the churn was dramatic. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to replace Xabi Alonso as the manager and a host of key players were gone or going – chief among them Florian Wirtz, Piero Hincapié, Jeremie Frimpong, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

Quansahâ€s Bundesliga debut came on 23 August at home to Hoffenheim and the centre-half scored after five minutes, albeit the goal was undercut by sadness. All he could think about was Diogo Jota, his former Liverpool teammate, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah performed Jotaâ€s gamer celebration as a mark of respect.

“To have a goal on your Bundesliga debut, at home, after five minutes, is certainly a whirlwind,†Quansah says. “But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a tribute to Diogo.â€

The defender could have been forgiven for wondering what he had signed up to at Leverkusen. From the promising start in their opening league fixture, they fell to a 2-1 defeat and the next match on 30 August was just as bad. Ten Hagâ€s team threw away 2-0 and 3-1 leads to draw 3-3 at 10-man Werder Bremen, the equaliser coming in stoppage time. It was not Ten Hagâ€s team for much longer. He was sacked on 1 September.

Quansah does not come across as the type to fret. If composure defines his game, it was on show during the interview he gave after joining England for the Wembley friendly against Wales on Thursday and the World Cup qualifier against Latvia in Riga next Tuesday.

Quansah has kept his head down under the new Leverkusen manager, Kasper Hjulmand, and continued to do what he always intended to do at the club – play. Hjulmand has brought stability. His team have three wins and one draw in four league matches along with draws in each of their Champions League ties. But there is a broader statistic that encourages Quansah, even bringing a measure of vindication. It is the one which shows he has played every minute of the clubâ€s campaign.

It is one that Thomas Tuchel has noted. The England head coach was a fan last season, selecting Quansah when he named his first squad in March. After leaving him out in June so that Quansah could concentrate on the Under-21 European Championship, he gave him a late call-up in September when John Stones was forced to withdraw.

Jarell Quansah and Harvey Elliott embrace at the end of the European Under-21 Championship final against Germany. Photograph: Petr David Josek/AP

Still to win his first cap, Quansah must have done something right in training and around the camp because he was named at the outset in Tuchelâ€s 24‑man group for Wales and Latvia, essentially as a fifth centre-back with Stones fit again. The dream is a debut. It is another thing he would surely take in his stride.

“At Leverkusen, the club were interested in me for a while and thatâ€s not just from the manager [Ten Hag],†Quansah says. “They were interested before he got appointed. So knowing it was a sort of internal decision and nothing would change with which manager was to come in and stuff like that … it was easy for me to make that decision [to join them].

“We had a lot of players leaving and itâ€s always tough when you lose key players. It has been tough to build the leadership groups but the results we have had [under Hjulmand] show that we have got a good squad with quality players. It is going to take time to build and we are not where we want to be. But if we are getting results and not losing that is a good place to start.â€

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It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to leave Liverpool, his club from the age of five, where he enjoyed so many memorable moments – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over Chelsea in 2023‑24 when he came on as an extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also a part of last seasonâ€s Premier League title triumph. Yet his view of much of that was not the one he would have chosen. He was an unused substitute on 25 occasions in the competition, his four starts and nine appearances off the bench comparing unfavourably with his numbers in the league from 2023‑24 when he started nine games and came on in four.

“Iâ€ve always learned off some of the best players around me at Liverpool and itâ€s been so good for my career,†he says. “But as a young centre-back, you need games and Iâ€m going to be needing hundreds of games to be where I want to be.

“I just wanted game time and when you are at a team like Liverpool, itâ€s not promised because there are world-class players all over the pitch. I wanted somewhere where they can trust that I might make mistakes at times but they will look under that and see I can keep pushing and pushing.â€

Quansah remembers his loan to League One Bristol Rovers in the second-half of 2022-23 where he made his first senior appearances – 16 of them, to be precise. There were “numerous wake-up callsâ€, he says with a smile, beginning with his debut; a 5-1 defeat at Morecambe.

“That was a true eye-opener,†Quansah says. “It was a really valuable part of my career because I wanted to make the next step to playing first-team football. Every game I learned something new. Thatâ€s where I knew how valuable experience and playing games was. You could say it informed my decision in the summer.â€

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