HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Bay Area Blasters superstar Lily Zhang became the first woman to top Major League Table Tennis’ official power rankings list on Friday.
Zhang boasted a power rating of 787.4, which puts her ahead of Princeton’s Seungmin Cho for the highest in the league. She earned that rating after winning all three of her games against Mo Zhang on Friday (11-4, 11-6, 11-8).
“There are some incredible players out there,” Zhang said. “So to be able to represent the girls, the women, it’s obviously such an honor and pleasure.”
This accomplishment comes just days after winning Women’s Player of the Week for Week 6. Last weekend, Zhang won seven of her nine games and boosted her power rating to 764.9, the fourth-highest in the league at the time.
Though Zhang has since been dethroned, she still sits at a prestigious table, one that she hopes more women will join. She told reporters after the match that she wants to be the first of many women to follow their table tennis dreams and become MLTT’s top player.
“I just hope that a young girl is watching, and she believes that she can join the league and do the same thing,” Zhang said.
The final two matches of Zhang’s historic weekend will take place on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. EST against the Florida Crocs and Sunday at 11 a.m. EST against the Los Angeles Spinners. You can watch these matches on tabletennis.tv, iOS, Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV.
