2019 TTV Premier League – Season 2 – Post Grand Final Report

Apologises for the late update! I have been very busy with my studies and only had the chance to do a Post Grand Final Report! But for the first time since I have taken over the pennant, Albert Park Table Tennis Inc and their subsidiaries has dominated all the flags up for grabs in Season 2 of the TTV Premier League! This is a remarkable effort from a club that was only established in April 2018 :) Read more below!

Divison 1

Fresh from his recent World Universitae Games in Napoli, Anthony Majtlis hoped to provide Monash Dandenong a much needed boost against the inform 'team to beat' in Balwyn - Geelong United (Rahul Mathew, Richard Li, Fabian Moreno). However in what was a blow for Monash where Brett Sonnet had injured his hip, rising alumni Terry Li stepped up to the challenge alongside Majtlis and Division 1 leading player Parth Phansekar. BGU drew first blood where Fabian defeated Majtlis in 4 and what looked like a comfortable win for Parth against Li having been 2-0 up, Li took the third in a narrow 13-11 encounter and then took the next two games to defeat Season 2's best player in 5. However Terry steadied the ship by defeating Mathew in a tight 4 games. A quick lot of 3-0 wins were 2-1 in Monash's favour to set up the rubbers at 3-3. The two Indian partners then sparred off in what was the match of the season only for Phansekar to win in 5 tight games 12-10 in the 5th after some beautfiul shot making from the two business partners. However to finish the night off, Terry capped off an undefeated spell by demolishing Moreno in 3. It was revenge for Monash Dandenong who had the title stripped from them from Balwyn - Geelong United in Season 1. (Tianyu (Terry) Li 3, Parth Phansekar 2, Majtlis 0, def Rahul Mathew 1, Richard Li 1, Fabian Moreno 1, 5-3)

Division 2

It simply wasn't the night for Balwyn United ( Felix Kung, Eddie Giam, Sourav Majumdar) who had also taken the Division 2 title in Season 1 only to have it ripped from them in quick fashion as the newcomers, Monash Caulfield (Quanxu Yue, Yang Shen, Bill Yao), stormed through them 5-0. Majumdar rallied with Yue but it wasn't enough and went down in 4. Division 2's undefeated leading player, Yang Shen, torn through the Veteran representative Felix Kung in 4 as well. Obviously if there wasn't enough 4's, Yao did the same to Giam and Shen to Majumdar. Captain Yue then decided enough was enough and made sure Giam went down in 3. It was a night of celebration for Monash in both Division 1 and 2 but one to forget for Balwyn United. (Quanxu Yue 2, Yang Shen 2, Bill Yao 1 def Felix Kung 0, Eddie Giam 0, Sourav Majumdar 0, 5-0).

Division 3

It was joy for MUTTC AP Black (Subhrasankha Dey, Shi Chang Zhang, Logan Yip) in Division 3 as they finally defeated the only team that has caused them misery during the Home & Away season in Maccabi Trads (Mark Freedman, Yori Bargil, Sam Parasol). Yip turned into a yap and then a bite against the Freedman in a tight 4 game match. Obviously Subhra's Dey hasn't quite begun and had a rusty start against the Parasol that was Sam's but came through ultimately in 5 and it was likewise for Zhang against the blocking machine that is Bargil in another 5 game encounter. Finally Dey's day has gotten better with a quick 3 game win over Freedman to set up Yip the final honours given MUTTC was 4-0 up. With 6 match points in the 4th game, surely Yip would prevail against Bargil!?! No he didn't and lost that game 14-12 and then the 5th 11-9. The Trads still had life in them. But Zhang was fed up and proceeded to take the Trads off life support and to deliver MUTTC AP Black a 5-1 win. If only someone in Logan's team taugh him the definition of 'clinical performance'. (Subhrasankha Dey 2, Shi Chang Zhang 2, Logan Yip 1 def Yori Bargil 1, Mark Freedman 0, Sam Parasol 0, 5-1).

Division 4

Turn off the lights!!! Well fortunately they didn't go out otherwise the night would've ended in a sour note! However the Old Melburnians (Chun Yu Liu, Anthony Tran, Charles Stiles) managed to defeat the best team of the season in St Kilda Cricket Green (Sven Czesla, Kristoff Mestdagh, Daniel Gomez). Tran took the first match for OM in a ripping 3 game win over Gomez only for Mestdagh to spin his way past Liu in 4. Stiles managed to get into Czesla's mind through his experience and win 12-10 in the 5th. In fact it was an interesting night given Stiles was on form and did not previously win against any of the Greens in previous encounters. Mestdagh then shocked Tran in 4 showing exactly why he is the Season's Leading Player and Gomez snapped into action with a 5 game win against Stiles. Interestingly, Liu managed to block and smash his way past Czesla (who was not having a great night) to level the rubbers at 3-3. Stiles showing off his wonderful form defeated the leading player, Mestdagh, in 5 and Czesla finally found some form to defeat his nemesis in Tran. It all boiled down to the final match up but obviously Gomez has run out of steam as Liu rolled him in 3. Tougher competition yet the Old Melburnians have shown they are still young! (Charles Stiles 2, Chun Yu Liu 2 Anthony Tran 1 def Kristoff Mestdagh 2, Sven Czesla 1, Daniel Gomez 1, 5-4)

Division 5

Ben Sadler's APT Gangsters (Anand Sundar, Evan Jia) were unassuming all season and were absolutely the dark horse of Division 5. While everyone else was focusing on St Kilda Cricket White (Amir Baf, Fanoosh Shoaeeyan, Karan Sood) it was the Gangster's that said 'Hasta La Vista Baby'. The up and coming Jia shot down his first opponent, Shoaeeyan in 4 and Sundar did the same to Sood. Sadler showed them who's boss with a quick tussle over Baf. Sood showed the young shooter Jia who was the leading player for the Season by comin back from a 0-2 deficit to win 11-9 in the 5th. Sadler steadied the shocked ship by throwing Shoaeeyan overboard in a 1-2-3-4 but while he wasn't looking, Baf took Sundar down in 3. Dispirited, Sadler went down with his ship against Sood's super St Kilda spins in 3 but it was the youngster who took over from his Captain to sail the ship home with a 3-0 demolition of Baf. The Big Bag Gangsters provided the team effort needed once again. (Ben Sadler 2, Evan Jia 2, Anand Sundar 1 def Karan Sood 2, Amir Baf 1, Fanoosh Shoaeeyan 0, 5-3).

Division 6

It was a New Start for the Newstarts as up and coming junior carried his more senior partner Melissa Grenville over the line against the Golden Era of St Kilda Cricket (Xenia Gorny, Joel Norton). Luck was on Luk's side as he stormed through Gorny and Norton both in 4-0 wins. Grenville who has been of much abled assistance over the season wa soverpowered by the experienced that was Gorny and Norton. However as it has been throughout the season, the combination pairing of Grenville-Luk delivered the goods once again as they sealed the deal for Albert Park in a 4-1 win in the doubles. (Eric Luk 2, Melissa Grenville 0, Doubles 1 def Xenia Gorny 1, Joel Norton 1, Doubles 0, 3-2).

Division 7

It was a similar affair in Division 7 except the Lake (Hugo Canny-Smith, Glenn Zhang) couldn't flood the Demons (Oskar Sadler, Haonan (Nemo) Ji). The Season's leading player Hugo provided the goods in back to back wins against Sadler and Ji. However Zhang tried to provide the support Canny-Smith needed but couldn't against the prowess of the APT Demons. The doubles was what was needed and it went down to the wire where the Demon sent their opposition to hell with a 4-3 victory. (Ben Sadler 1, Haonan (Nemo) Ji 1, Doubles 1, def Hugo Canny-Smith 2, Glenn Zhang 0, Doubles 0, 3-2).

Conclusion

Another season has ended and another will spring up on 11th September! With 7 divisions once again, who will prevail this time? Can Albert Park Table Tennis Inc provide the goods it needs to bring? Will St Kilda and Maccabi find the missing cog that has plagued them in recent times? Or will some unknown external team come into to shake it all up? Stay tuned for Season 3!