TOKYO - Japan's T.League opened its ninth season with record attendance in Taiwan in late July as the table tennis league looks to further raise its profile overseas.
In the league's first games held abroad, Top Otome Pingpongs Nagoya beat Kinoshita Abyell Kanagawa 3-1 in the women's opener, and Kinoshita-Meister Tokyo downed T.T Saitama 4-0 in the men's, with nearly 7,000 excited fans cheering at Hsinchu County Stadium.
"We were able to convey how great our league is," T.League Secretary General Takayuki Kuriyama said following the event, which came about after the league received a proposal from Taiwan around January 2025.
Despite being a table tennis powerhouse, Taiwan has hosted few international competitions, and local fans rarely get to watch men's national team star Lin Yun-ju up close as he plays for Tokyo.
With Taiwan moving to launch its own professional league, the T.League has also drawn attention as a model case.
Kuriyama said organizers had to make last-minute adjustments due to cultural differences and different ways of thinking, but fans lined up before the venue opened and long queues formed at merchandise stores. Once the action began, the crowd roared whenever a point was won.
"I'm happy to have taken part in the league's first official match overseas. Lots of children came over to watch us play," said 18-year-old world No. 3 Miwa Harimoto of Kanagawa.
Kuriyama hopes to build on the success by expanding the league's business overseas through the sale of broadcasting rights.
"There have been lots of requests calling for matches to be staged overseas again. If there's a chance, I'll actively push the move forward," he said.
