The third regular season of Major League Table Tennis (MLTT) will likely be remembered for two players: Chicago’s Robert Gardos and Carolina’s Chen Sun.

Both players stood above their peers throughout the past year. Both players booked their teams a spot at Championship Weekend. And to honor the incredible seasons Gardos and Sun had, MLTT awarded both players with Most Valuable Player honors on Monday.

Gardos and Sun both deserve their status as the main characters of MLTT’s Season 3, but what’s a good story without a strong supporting cast? Those awards don’t say which coach had the biggest impact on their team. They don’t necessarily tell which players performed best in the Golden Game. They don’t even provide insight into the other players who had a realistic chance of winning MVP.

Many more than two paddles swung the course of this regular season. It just wouldn’t be complete without the shots, decisions and golden points from several individuals that did not win MVP of Season 3. That’s why the league’s editorial team created its unofficial awards for Season 3, which includes honors such as Coach of the Year, Golden Game Player of the Year, and All-MLTT Teams. 

MLTT’s editorial team voted on six individual awards and eight All-MLTT team awards, the latter of which draws inspiration from the NBA’s All-NBA teams and NFL’s All-Pro honors. Each voter gave their top three selections for each award and two to three five-player teams for each All-MLTT team award. Every vote was then converted into points based on a player’s ranking, with each first-place vote or first-team selection receiving five points, each second-place vote or second-team selection receiving three points and each third-place vote or third-team selection receiving one point. An individual’s ranking and/or team placement was determined by the number of total points each player or coach received throughout the voting process.

Voters took into consideration the following rules and guidelines when submitting their ballots:

1. These awards only represent the regular season of MLTT’s Season 3. Any performance from a prior season was not considered during the voting process.

2. Any eligible player must have competed in at least three match weekends with their team during Season 3. This excluded players such as Portland’s Kang Dong-Soo, Princeton’s Shuo Yang and Florida’s Peiyu Zhu from consideration, among others.

3. A player may appear on the same All-MLTT team twice, for their performance in both Singles and Doubles. Each All-MLTT team is modeled after a standard MLTT lineup, which allows a player to compete in both Singles and in Doubles.

The editorial team has decided on the following individual awards and All-MLTT teams, with each candidate ranked in the order of total votes received:

Individual Awards

‍Men’s Most Valuable Player 

1. Chicago’s Robert Gardos (SPINDEX: 2841)

2. Princeton’s Cho Seungmin (SPINDEX: 2818)

3. Chicago’s Emmanuel Lebesson (SPINDEX: 2790)

Women’s Most Valuable Player 

1. Carolina’s Chen Sun (SPINDEX: 2604)

2. Bay Area’s Lily Zhang (SPINDEX: 2606)

3. Portland’s Kotomi Omoda (SPINDEX: 2599)

Rookie of the Year 

1. Chicago’s Robert Gardos (#7 pick in the Season 3 MLTT Draft)

2. Carolina’s Chen Sun (#20 pick in the Season 3 MLTT Draft)

3. Princeton’s Cho Seungmin (#4 pick in the Season 3 MLTT Draft)

Most Improved Player 

1. Los Angeles’s Aditya Sareen (SPINDEX: 2584)

2. Carolina’s Edward Ly (SPINDEX: 2721)

3. Los Angeles’s Matilda Ekholm (SPINDEX: 2584)

Coach of the Year

1. Chicago’s Eric Owens (Wind: 13-5, 227 points)

2. Portland’s Christian Lillieroos (Paddlers: 16-2, 260 points)

3. New York’s Adam Hugh (Slice: 10-8, 185 points)

Also received votes: Princeton’s Mathias Habesohn (Revolution: 7-11, 188)

Golden Game Player of the Year

1. Chicago’s Emmanuel Lebesson (GG: 62.0%, 67-41)

2. Princeton’s Cho Seungmin (GG: 61.5%, 56-35)

3. Carolina’s Chen Sun (GG: 60.9%, 53-34)

Also received votes: Chicago’s Alexandru Cazacu (GG: 61.5%, 32-20)

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All-MLTT Teams

‍All-MLTT First Team

Singles 1: Chicago’s Robert Gardos (Singles: 72.2%, 39-15)

Singles 2: Carolina’s Chen Sun (Singles: 71.4%, 30-12)

Doubles: Princeton’s Cho Seungmin (Doubles: 66.7%, 18-9) and Portland’s Nikhil Kumar (Doubles: 61.1%, 33-21)

Singles 3: Princeton’s Cho Seungmin (Singles: 69.4%, 25-11)

Singles 4: Chicago’s Emmanuel Lebesson (Singles: 63%, 34-20)

All-MLTT Second Team 

Singles 1: Carolina’s Enzo Angles (Singles: 53.7%, 29-25)

Singles 2: Bay Area’s Lily Zhang (Singles: 77.8%, 28-8)

Doubles: Portland’s Sid Naresh (Doubles: 29-16, 64.4%) and Los Angeles’s Ľubomír Pištej (Doubles: 56.4%, 22-17)

Singles 3: Texas’s Hiromitsu Kasahara (Singles: 59.3%, 32-22)

Singles 4: Portland’s Hampus Nordberg (Singles: 59.3%, 32-22)

All-MLTT Third Team 

Singles 1: New York’s Koki Niwa (Singles: 52.9%, 27-24)

Singles 2: Portland’s Kotomi Omoda (Singles: 64.4%, 29-16)

Doubles: Bay Area’s Taehyun Kim (Doubles: 59%, 23-16) and Bay Area’s Baek Kwang-il (Doubles: 61.1%, 22-14)

Singles 3: Carolina’s Eugene Wang (Singles: 53.8%, 21-18)

Singles 4: Portland’s Min Hyeok Kim (Singles: 61.1%, 22-14)

‍Also received votes: Atlanta’s Kayama Yu (Doubles: 55.6%, 25-20), Bay Area’s Elsayed Lashin (Singles: 52.9%, 27-24) Atlanta’s Yuya Oshima (Singles: 60%, 27-18), Chicago’s Jeongwoo Park (Singles: 18-9, 66.7%)

All-Rookie First Team 

Singles 1: Chicago’s Robert Gardos (Singles: 72.2%, 39-15)

Singles 2: Carolina’s Chen Sun (Singles: 71.4%, 30-12)

Doubles: Princeton’s Cho Seungmin (Doubles: 66.7%, 18-9) and Bay Area’s Baek Kwang-il (Doubles: 61.1%, 22-14)

Singles 3: Princeton’s Cho Seungmin (Singles: 69.4%, 25-11)

Singles 4: New York’s Koki Niwa (Singles: 52.9%, 27-24)

All-Rookie Second Team 

Singles 1: Los Angeles’s Alexandre Robinot (Singles: 55.6%, 30-24)

Singles 2: New York’s Choi Haeeun (Singles: 36.4%, 12-21)

Doubles: Atlanta’s Kayama Yu (Doubles: 55.6%, 25-20) and Florida’s Angel Naranjo (Doubles: 55.6%, 20-16)

Singles 3: Atlanta’s Yuya Oshima (Singles: 60%, 27-18)

Singles 4: Portland’s Min Hyeok Kim (Singles: 61.1%, 22-14)

‍Also received votes: Florida’s Asuka Sakai (Singles: 47.2%, 17-19)

‍All-MLTT Golden Game Team

1. Chicago’s Emmanuel Lebesson (GG: 62%, 67-41)

2. Carolina’s Chen Sun (GG: 60.9%, 53-34)

3. Princeton’s Cho Seungmin (GG: 61.5%, 56-35)

4. Los Angeles’s Alexandre Robinot (GG: 57.1%, 76-57)

5. New York’s Tao Wenzhang (GG: 57.5%, 65-48)

Also received votes: Chicago’s Alexandru Cazacu (61.5%, 32-20), Portland’s Hampus Nordberg (58.9%, 73-51)

East Division All-Star Team 

Singles 1: Princeton’s Cho Seungmin (Singles: 69.4%, 25-11)

Singles 2: Carolina’s Chen Sun (Singles: 71.4%, 30-12)

Doubles: Princeton’s Cho Seungmin (Doubles: 66.7%, 18-9), Atlanta’s Kayama Yu (Doubles: 

Singles 3: Carolina’s Enzo Angles (Singles: 53.7%, 29-25)

Singles 4: New York’s Koki Niwa (Singles: 52.9%, 27-24)

Also received votes: Atlanta’s Yuya Oshima (Singles: 60%, 27-18)

West Division All-Star Team

Singles 1: Chicago’s Robert Gardos (Singles: 72.2%, 39-15)

Singles 2: Bay Area’s Lily Zhang (Singles: 77.8%, 28-8)

Doubles: Portland’s Nikhil Kumar (Doubles: 61.1%, 33-21), Portland’s Sid Naresh (Doubles: 29-16, 64.4%)

Singles 3: Portland’s Hampus Nordberg (Singles: 59.3%, 32-22)

Singles 4: Chicago’s Emmanuel Lebesson (Singles: 63%, 34-20)

Also received votes: Portland’s Kotomi Omoda (Singles: 64.4%, 29-16)

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