DULUTH, Ga. — The Atlanta Blazers (1-5, 46 points) filed out of Gas South Convention Center with low heads and somber faces on Saturday night.

The Blazers woke up that morning fresh off a 15-6 defeat at the hands of the Chicago Wind the night prior. That was their fourth loss of Season 3, the fourth time they left the table without knowing what it feels like to win. They wanted to experience that feeling badly against the Princeton Revolution, and they almost did, entering that Golden Game with just a one-point deficit. But the Revolution pummeled the Blazers with point after point after point. That was loss No. 5, making the Blazers the only team to experience that many defeats without even one win.

That’s when Coach Suzi Battison changed the mindset she wanted to instill in her team. No more overthinking. No more worrying. No more doing anything but playing the best table tennis her team could play.

“I said, ‘Go for it,’” Battison told Table Tennis TV. “‘Let go and play.’”

They’d test that mindset against the Bay Area Blasters on Sunday. It wasn’t a perfect trial run, but a lot went right. Yuya Oshima took two of three games from Jinbao Ma in Singles 1. Jeet Chandra did the same in Singles 3 against Baek Kwang-il. But their efforts earned them no more than a three-point deficit heading into the Golden Game, and for a little bit, a sixth loss appeared inevitable.

Chandra had other plans. Stepping to the table against Baek, Chandra took four straight points to tie the score, putting the Blazers back in a competitive position. They could do it. That elusive victory felt so, so close. The crowd knew it too; that’s why the crowd noise grew louder with every point that grew closer to 21. 

And when that 21st point finally came for the first time in Atlanta Blazers history, the celebration from that crowd was so much louder than the silence of Saturday night.

“For a second, I forgot what I [as a coach] am supposed to do,” Battison said. “I was just like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe we won!’”

In addition to his Golden Game dominance, Chandra took two of three games from Baek Kwang-il and Benedek Olah. Oshima’s takeover of Ma set the tone for the Blasters on Sunday and reminded the league why he was the No. 1 pick in the 2025 MLTT Draft. Kayama Yu emerged as one of the league’s most dangerous doubles players, sweeping Jeongwoo Park and Sean Zhang on Friday and taking two of three from Jinxin Wang and Seungmin Cho on Saturday. 

“[My team] played amazing,” Chandra said. “I’m grateful for this.” 

A disastrous start to their weekend couldn’t have ended any better. The home crowd got to watch the Atlanta Blazers earn their first win in franchise history. The family of Tom Feng watched him contribute to this historic moment and erupted every time the Blazers scored. When that match finally ended, the Blazers left Gas South Convention Center beaming with pride.

And even if they didn’t win that Golden Game, Battison would still be proud of every one of her players for fighting through their brutal losses all season long.

“I’m not going to be blaming anyone, because we’re basically fighting very hard for each match,” Battison said. “So even though you guys lost [Friday and Saturday], I’m so grateful to have all of you [on] my team.”

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Bay Area Blasters

The key storyline surrounding the Bay Area Blasters (2-4, 50 points) heading into this week was the return of Taehyun Kim. The reigning Men’s Co-MVP missed the Blasters’ first slate of games this season due to a foot injury, and his teammates couldn’t wait to have him back. And once his team’s five-week hiatus ended, Kim joined his teammates in anticipation of his Season 3 debut.

There was just one caveat: Kim’s launch would not be an emphatic blast-off. Kim told Table Tennis TV’s Luke Scotchie on Friday morning that he was still rehabilitating his injured foot, which required surgery. As a result, Kim only participated in Sunday’s doubles game and two Golden Games.

That was okay. The Blasters received considerable support from two of the league's top players.

Two of three from Jiangshan Guo on Friday. Two of three from Mo Zhang on Saturday. A clean sweep of Andrea Todorovic on Sunday. Anyone who took the table against Lily Zhang put their team in a perilous position through no fault of their own. Zhang took seven of nine possible points for the Blasters, which was often enough to earn her team an advantage heading into each Golden Game. Oh, and she also dominated that game, finishing the weekend with 13 points through three Golden Games.

She wasn’t the only Blaster in command of the Golden Game. Elsayed Lashin finished the weekend with 16 Golden Game points, including seven against Princeton’s Benedek Olah. He capitalized on the momentum he earned from his singles victories, when he took two games from Olah on Friday, Emmanuel Lebesson on Saturday and Kayama Yu on Sunday.

The match results weren’t what the Blasters had hoped for. They opened their weekend with a 4-17 loss to Princeton after losing an ultimate golden point. They took Saturday’s match against Chicago, 13-8, but lost Sunday’s match against Atlanta, 12-9. But strong performances from several of their key figures, as well as a hopeful return to form for Kim, could power the Blasters back into the postseason conversation as they wrap up their first of three straight match weeks.

Princeton Revolution

This isn’t the Princeton Revolution (4-5, 97 points) we saw in Chicago during Week 4.

That team finished with a winless record against three of the sport’s best teams. They looked a step behind their opponents, mainly due to them being the last team to make their Season 3 debut. But after leaving Pleasantville, N.Y., in Week 5 with two of three wins, including a stunning victory against the East-leading New York Slice, Princeton looked like they were finding their footing.

Consider that footing found. Benedek Olah’s ultimate golden point against Bay Area’s Elsayed Lashin gave Princeton its first win on Friday, 17-4. They played an exceptional Golden Game on Saturday to take their match against Atlanta, 14-7. And even though they lost 10-11 to the Chicago Wind on Sunday, they started the Golden Game with a five-point deficit and ended it with 21 points.

It’s not much of a shocker that Princeton’s success coincides with rookie Seungmin Cho’s availability. After missing Princeton’s winless Week 4 due to a scheduling conflict, the fourth overall pick in the 2025 MLTT Draft made his Season 3 debut in Week 5, when Princeton went 2-1. This week, Cho won six of his nine games as Princeton’s leadoff man, including a three-game sweep of Bay Area’s Jinbao Ma on Friday. 

Cho’s teammates backed him up. Olah matched up against Elsayed Lashin, Jeet Chandra and Emmanuel Lebesson and won four of his nine games. Koyo Kanamitsu played in two of his team’s singles sets, winning two games against Atlanta’s Yuya Oshima after sweeping Bay Area’s Baek Kwang-il. Jinxin Wang showed off his doubles prowess once again, Kewei Li was crucial in ensuring Princeton’s Golden Game win on Sunday and Jiangshan Guo held her own against Lily Zhang, Andrea Todorovic and Mo Zhang.

After competing in three straight match weeks, the Revolution will take a well-deserved hiatus until Feb. 13 (Week 12). They couldn’t ask for a better start to their break, as they went from the bottom of the East Division to its second seed. If they can keep this up, they could be playing in the postseason in just a few months from now, which was an unlikely possibility as of Week 4.

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Chicago Wind

The Chicago Wind (5-4, 96 points) find themselves in a rather unique position: they have the talent to make it to Championship Weekend, but those odds aren’t particularly in their favor. To plant themselves into a postseason spot, they’ll have to uproot either the Portland Paddlers or Texas Smash, two of the most difficult teams to take down this year. That’s a tall task in and of itself, especially for a third-seeded team that swapped divisions over the summer.

“Portland’s a great team, Texas is a great team, all of the teams are really, really solid,” Wind coach Eric Owens said. “There are no ‘gimmes’ in this league at all.”

But the Wind have responded to this challenge rather well. They were a Golden Game collapse away from finishing their Season 3 debut weekend with a 2-1 record, and a failed comeback bid away from leaving Chicago undefeated in Week 4. 

Their Week 6 was more of the same. They won their reunion match against Tom Feng and the Atlanta Blazers on Friday, 15-6. They lost their reunion match against Tim Wang and the Bay Area Blasters, 8-13. And though they won Sunday’s match against Princeton, they gave the final six points to Princeton after another Golden Game collapse. 

The Wind should be proud of their performances, though. Coach Eric Owens played rookie first-rounder Robert Gardos all over the lineup, trusting his star against some of his opponents’ top players. And Gardos delivered, sweeping Atlanta’s Yuya Oshima on Friday and taking two of three from Bay Area’s Baek Kwang-il and Princeton’s Seungmin Cho. He even got a chance to strut his strength in doubles, teaming up with Daniel Tran to shut Bay Area’s Jinbao Ma and Senura Silva out on Saturday.

Mo Zhang entered this season as the reigning Women’s MVP, and her seven wins this weekend proved why she earned that honor. She started her weekend with a three-game sweep of Atlanta’s Andrea Todorovic on Friday before taking one game against Bay Area superstar Lily Zhang on Saturday. And with a sweep of Princeton’s Jiangshan Guo on Sunday, she leaves Duluth, Ga., with one of the strongest performances of Week 6.

Gardos and Zhang had plenty of help. Jeongwoo Park’s sweep of Princeton’s Kewei Li was a crucial part of the Wind’s victory over Princeton. Emmanuel Lebesson took two games from Jeet Chandra to set Chicago up for a convincing win.

Chicago’s postseason ambitions are, well, very ambitious. They’ll only get more difficult the closer we inch to the halfway point of Season 3. But if the Wind can finish more weekends with a winning record, that dream could come true for the second straight season.

“We have a lot of table tennis to play. We do our very best, we have fun, and then we see what happens at the end.”

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