The Portland Paddlers are on their way to their first national title.
They played a dominant three days of table tennis at the Oregon Convention Center from Jan. 9-11, pulling ahead in the 10-team league.
The Paddlers went into matchweek nine leading the western division and the league with a solid seven wins and two losses, racking up 125 points. They also held four spots in the top eight individual standings, with former South Korean national champion Kang Dong-Soo leading the Paddlers ranked second overall in the league.
Major League Table Tennis (MLTT) match format includes five total games: four singles and one doubles, capped off by a golden game where five players rotate playing in a set to 21 points, with the winning team claiming an often match-deciding six points for their team score.
Sets are won by the first person or duo to earn 11 points, and do not need to be won by the standard two points. Each matchup sees three sets, with each set being worth one point for the overall team score.
“In this format it’s a huge team game and it’s all about contributing individual points and adding them together,” said Portland Paddler and former US national champion Nikhil Kumar. Every set matters in MLTT since each team point the winning side is ahead by gets added to their starting score in the golden game.
The Paddlers stumbled in their first few sets of the weekend, going down 5-1 against second place team Texas Smash. However, through a dominant three out of three points earned by former Swedish Olympian Jens Lundqvist along with a win-clenching golden game performance by 2022 French Pro A League champion Hampus Nordberg, the Paddlers took their first victory of the weekend and a likely first-place finish in the western bracket of MLTT.
The Paddlers faced the Atlanta Blazers for their second match and second win.
The first two singles stayed neck and neck, with team scores at three apiece going into the much-anticipated doubles match. In front of a roaring crowd, the Paddlers’ Kumar and 2025 MLTT champion Sid Naresh faced the Blazer’s Yu Kayama and the fan-favorite Portland native and former Paddler Jiwei Xia.
With fans cheering for the Paddlers and Xia alike, the Blazers won the doubles matchup 2-1, pulling ahead in the tie. However, dominant 3-0 singles wins from South Korean Doubles national champion Min Hyeok Kim and Lundqvist put the Paddlers five points ahead going into the golden game, where Kim hit the winning shot to clinch the match.
“It’s been a good weekend so far,” Kumar said after the match against the Blazers. “As a team, I’m really happy with our performance and happy to come so far winning two matches.”
The Paddlers capped off the commanding weekend with a win against Los Angeles Spinners.
The stars of day three were the doubles duo of Kumar and Naresh, who won all three sets, giving Portland the lead going into the golden game. After pulling far ahead, the Paddlers looked like they might throw away the win, losing seven points in a row, however at 20-17, Kumar struck hard and gave the Paddlers the win, capping off a successful weekend in front of their home fans.
“I wouldn’t say we were one of the favorites before the season, but we played really good,” said Nordberg. “We also have good timing. If someone is playing bad, someone else steps up and plays better.”
Teams boast diverse rosters with table tennis experience from around the globe — over 40 countries are represented in MLTT and the Paddlers themselves have players from six countries across three continents. Teams are also co-ed — each team must play at least one female player every match. Kotomi Omoda, 2025 MLTT most valuable player finalist, holds that spot for the Paddlers.
Playing its inaugural season in 2023, MLTT has garnered international attention and investment as the US’ first professional table tennis league. Although the sport is incredibly popular worldwide with more than 850 million fans, table tennis has only recently been gaining traction within the US.
In Portland, the local club Paddle Palace has teamed up with MLTT as their fulfillment partner, distributing gear to fans around the country. “It’s been great to be a partner with the first and only pro sports league for table tennis in the United States,” said Sean O’Neill, sponsorships manager at Paddle Palace and an MLTT commentator. “Everyone gets excited when an MLTT comes to town.”
“You have to watch [Table Tennis] live,” said Nordberg. “It’s something totally different from what most people think it is.” Kumar agreed. “They don’t understand the physicality and the intensity that we bring to the table.”
