For professional athletes, competition is a necessity. This unmet necessity has proved to be the mother of invention, as it has long been rumored to be. In this plague-plagued year, conventional table tennis tournaments have not been an option for the better part of a year. Enter the "Thursday Night Live T2 Challenge," a virtual table tennis tournament featuring top US players competing in a unique format across the country. Using the proprietary "T2" format from Singapore, all games are sudden death, hence no deuce. Matches are played under a 24-minute clock, and any game starting after it expires is a mad dash to five points. Each week, players are chosen to play for either Team Nittaku or Team Butterfly, named for their sponsors who just so happen to be two of the world's leading table tennis equipment companies. Through eight weeks of competition, Team Butterfly had amassed a 5-3 lead. The first team to secure six wins secures also secures prize money from the sponsors to be divided among all Team Butterfly members. Another subplot of the virtual tournament series was the high number of intersex matches. Entering Thursday's high-stakes battle, the results were evenly split 3-3 in the battle of the sexes. Entering the arena this week were two talented Bay Area teens, Rachel Sung and Aziz Zarehbin. The 14-year-old Zarehbin, boasting a USATT rating of 2388, trains in Alameda, California. Like his older brother Kai, Aziz is an internationally ranked junior player, listed at #130 worldwide among all boys 15 and under. Lefthanded Campbell, Califonia native Rachel Sung, with a USATT rating of 2406, was a 2019 US women's finalist at only 15 years of age. Like the Zarehbin brothers, Rachel and her sister are both internationally ranked juniors, with Rachel tallied at an impressive #24 among all girls 18 and under in the whole wide world. In fact, Rachel's twin Joanna was featured in last week's T2 Challenge, losing to Ved Sheth, another talented 14-year-old representing Team Nittaku. This narrowed Team Butterfly's lead to 5-3, and gave another Sung sister a chance to seal the win. Team Butterfly must have been feeling confident after the first game. With a fusillade of furious forehands, Sung attacked Zarehbin's midsection like Rocky Balboa, pounding her way to a dominant 11-3 win. Game two was a different animal, however, and proved that Sung was not the only fighter in the fight. After Sung earned five game points at 10-6, Zahrebin rallied to tie the game at 10-all, aided by several brilliant backhands wide to Sung's lefty forehand. In the T2 format, 10-all equals game point for both players. Unfortunately for Zarehbin and Team Nittaku, Sung forced an error with a heavy backspin push to Zarehbin's forehand. When his return dumped in the bottom of the net, Sung claimed a 2-0 lead, halfway to the match and the championship for Team Butterfly. Although surely frustrated by squandering a fine comeback, Zarehbin regrouped and built a 7-2 lead in game three, whipping backhands at will to Sung's wide forehand court. Unfortunately, his dominant 12-3 run was stretched across two games, earning him neither. Sung made the necessary adjustments, sliding over from her preferred backhand corner to cover the center of the table, thus negating the frequent attacks to her forehand. She closed the game on a 9-2 run to inch within one game of the team championship. In game four, Zarehbin once again built a healthy lead. At the first towel break, he led 5-1. At the next, however, the score was tied, 6-all. At 8-all, Zarehbin went for broke with a step-around inside-out forehand loop, which Sung calmly blocked back to his unguarded forehand like an empty net goal. On her second match point, Sung patiently blocked Zarehbin's spirited forehand loops until he got caught out of position, finally popping up an anemic chop. Like a lifelong executioner, Sung dispassionately whipped a murderous backhand crosscourt to his forehand for game, set and match. With the win, Rachel Sung not only earns her individual prize money of $1,000, but also her share of the championship purse. Perhaps even sweeter, she wins the battle of the sexes for the females, 4-3. This season of "T2 Challenges" has helped Team USA members stay competition-sharp when few other options existed. This is especially beneficial for those who are preparing to resume international competition, including next summer's postponed 2020 Olympics. Furthermore, the fast pace and nail-biting scoring format of T2 have the potential to change the way we play our favorite sport. Let's just hope this invention remembers to send necessity a Mother's Day card.

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