Major League Table Tennis (MLTT) passed the Returning Player Rule ahead of its Season 4 Draft, enabling the Carolina Gold Rush to sign Season 1 Women’s MVP Hong Lin (SPINDEX: 2570).

The Returning Player Rule allows teams to sign certain former players who have declared for the MLTT Draft. A team may sign a draft candidate who left MLTT exactly one season before their declaration, as long as that candidate played for that team in their last season with the league.

If a team signs a candidate via the Returning Player Rule, that candidate is immediately added to that team’s roster for the following season and removed from the draft pool. Signing a candidate via the Returning Player Rule will not cost a team any of its draft picks, unless that team does not make a corresponding roster change before doing so.

The Gold Rush officially became the first team to sign a player via the Returning Player Rule on Monday with its acquisition of Lin. Lin was a member of the Gold Rush until she left MLTT at the end of Season 2, but she ended her one-year hiatus from the league after declaring for the Season 4 MLTT Draft.

Lin earned a 56.9% Singles percentage (56.9%) and a 49.5% Golden Game percentage (49.5%) as a member of the Gold Rush’s championship-winning roster in Season 2. The Gold Rush selected her with the 16th pick in the Season 1 MLTT Draft, and she became MLTT’s first-ever Women's MVP at the end of her rookie season.

Sources also say that the Gold Rush have released Wei Wang (2671) and Siu Hang Lam (2701) as corresponding moves. That will give the Gold Rush a minimum of two selections in the Season 4 MLTT Draft on April 30.

The Carolina Gold Rush will face the Chicago Wind on April 18 during the semifinal round of Championship Weekend. That will be the final weekend before Lin can officially be eligible to compete for the Gold Rush again. 

All four Championship Weekend matches from April 18-19 will be streamed on Table Tennis TV.