If you’re looking to watch some of the world’s best table tennis players compete on the same stage, head on down to Westchester Table Tennis Center in Pleasantville, N.Y., this weekend for Week 3 of Major League Table Tennis (MLTT).

There, you’ll find world-class table tennis talent for the first time this season. Some of those players will make their MLTT debuts. Others have years of experience competing for their teams. Every team competing this weekend has at least one of these players, whether they be promising first-year players or some of last season’s biggest hotshots.

Many players will begin their Season 4 journeys in New York this weekend, including the following four players.  These four are just some of the many players with the talent, skill and potential to become some of this season’s brightest stars.

Jishan Liang: Florida Crocs (SPINDEX: 2693)

New York Slice fans visiting Westchester Table Tennis Center this weekend will notice a familiar face wearing orange and green. That face once rested above a purple and teal jersey, a jersey that Jishan Liang has worn ever since the Slice selected him in the Season 3 Expansion Draft. Liang came to New York with heavy expectations, and he finished his first season with the Slice with a 66.7% (4-2) Singles percentage, a 38.1% Doubles percentage (8-13) and a 43.1% (22-29) Golden percentage.

That would be his only season in New York. The Slice failed to offer him a contract for the following season, and the Florida Crocs couldn’t waste an opportunity to draft the U.S. Olympian. After the Crocs selected him with the 23rd pick in the Season 4 MLTT Draft, Liang found himself on his third MLTT team.

If Liang lives up to the expectations Crocs coach Frank Arias has for him, Florida could become his MLTT home. He has a chance to become a mainstay on the Crocs, who are only returning Marc Duran (2649), Daniel Gorak (2670), Asuka Sakai (2748) and Angel Naranjo (2613). Liang’s opportunity to become a core contributor for the new-look Crocs starts this weekend … inside the same stadium he used to play his home matches in. His former team won’t go easy on him, nor will either of the other two teams he will face. But Liang has proven himself more than capable of winning against the world’s best players throughout his table tennis career, and his return to New York could end with him establishing himself as one of the league’s most dangerous players.

David McBeath: Texas Smash (SPINDEX: 2700)

David McBeath’s name is synonymous with the Texas Smash’s success. He was their second-ever draft pick in Season 1. He was a core member of the Smash’s title-winning team that year and the squad that finished second a season later. He finished Season 2 with a 33-21 (61.1%) record in Doubles, and his partnership with Hiromitsu Kasahara (2726) became one of MLTT’s first great Doubles tandems.

McBeath took a much larger role throughout Season 3: acting coach. In addition to competing in matches, the Smash’s team captain was responsible for constructing Golden Game lineups and advising his team amid visa troubles for former Smash coach Jörg Bitzigeio. Juggling those responsibilities came at a productivity cost for McBeath, whose Doubles percentage dipped to 55.6% (10-8) in a much smaller sample size. That lack of consistency in McBeath’s role coincided with a regression for the Smash, who missed the postseason for the first time in team history last year.

Now, McBeath doesn’t have to worry about splitting his time. With new coach Paul Drinkhall at the helm, all McBeath has to do is win matches, a task he has had no trouble completing in the past. McBeath, as well as Season 1 teammates Kasahara, Amy Wang (2588) and Nandan Naresh (2722), is living proof that the Smash are more than just third-place finishers. They’ve won it all before, and if McBeath returns to form in his new, yet familiar role, they could very easily do it again.

Kayama Yu: Atlanta Blazers (SPINDEX: 2804)

Not a lot went right for the Atlanta Blazers last season. It took them until Week 6 to record their first win in team history, which came after five losses. They finished with a 5-13 record and 155 points, good enough for the second-worst record in all of MLTT. Coach Suzi Battison resigned from her position at the end of the season, and several key players left the team as well.

Kayama Yu was not one of those players. And his team is very grateful that he’s still with them. They couldn’t have asked for a more impressive rookie season from the 11th overall pick in the Season 3 MLTT Draft, which included a 57.8% (26-19) Singles percentage, a 55.6% (25-20) Doubles percentage and a 44.9% (48-59) Golden percentage. He finished Season 3 as the league’s No. 18 player, one that the Blazers can count on as a cornerstone for their future.

That future starts this weekend for Kayama, who missed the Blazers’ Week 1 matches in Duluth, Ga. He will make his Season 4 debut with a different-looking roster than the one he played with last season, a roster that now includes Quadri Aruna (2840), Jessica Reyes Lai (2453) and Woojin Kim (2684). With new teammates comes new expectations for the Blazers, and all Kayama needs to do to live up to them is to be the same version of himself he was in Season 3.

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He Li: New York Slice (SPINDEX: 2550)

The New York Slice entered the Season 4 MLTT Draft with a glaring need at Singles 2. They chose not to offer contracts to Choi Haeeun (2533) or Jessica Reyes Lai last season, leaving them without a single woman on their roster at the time of the draft. With Koki Niwa (2816) leading the way and Yiran Wu (2644), Kaden Xu (2705) and Tao Wenzhang (2679) set to return, it was clear what Adam Hugh was going to do with the No. 6 pick in the Season 4 MLTT Draft. The only question was who he would take. 

Hugh ended up selecting 33-year-old He Li, who brings extensive international experience to the Slice. She has an ETTU Europe Trophy to her name, which she won in 2023 as a member of French Pro A club TT Joué les Tours. She’s not too far away from her stellar 2024-25 season, which she finished with an individual record of 9-2 with a winning percentage of 81.8%. That percentage was the third-highest among all players in the French Pro A League that year, topping the likes of Prithika Pavade (80%), Christina Källberg (75%) and Hana Goda (72.7%). 

That resume made Li the first woman to come off the board during the Season 4 MLTT Draft, but it’s what she continues to add that will determine her trajectory in this league. And her first few matches won’t be warm welcomes. Amy Wang has dominated under MLTT’s unique ruleset for the last three years. Fellow rookie Anastasiia Kolish (2550) looks to prove why she should have been the top woman in this season’s draft. Andrea Todorovic (2497) has a year’s worth of MLTT experience, and Jessica Reyes Lai and Rachel Sung (2529) have already warmed up during Week 1 this season. Li will almost certainly be tested no matter who she faces, but the Slice believe she can rise up to any challenge. That’s what made her a first-rounder, and it’s what the Slice hope can make her a Singles 2 juggernaut for years to come.

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