USA Table Tennis (USATT) is gathering its top-tier talent for the Hall of Fame Cup, a new tournament of Olympic proportions. This June 9 and 10, the Westchester Table Tennis Center (WTTC) in Pleasantville, New York will host the novel tournament boasting a very high bar for entry. Like a plywood cutout in front of a particularly daunting ride a the fair, you must meet one of these criteria to ride: Be a member of the US Paralympic or Olympic Team, qualify for the US National Team three weeks from now in Fort Worth, Texas, be a current participant in Season Two of the T2 Challenge, or receive a wild-card selection from USATT. The Hall of Fame Cup will see 48 such eminently qualified players form 24 teams. The top eight will receive byes while teams 9-24 duke it out on Wednesday, June 9. The surviving eight teams will join the seeded players for a single-elimination playoff. Each match is best-of-five, in the following order: singles-singles-doubles-singles-singles. Donna Sakai, a USATT Hall of Fame Committee member, is excited to see the marriage of tradition and innovation. "Team events have always been one of my favorite types of tournaments and the Hall of Fame is honored to be associated with this new USATT Invitational competition," said Sakai. Dean Johnson, a fellow USATT Hall of Fame Committee member, is similarly pumped. "The US Hall of Fame Committee is pleased to partner with USA Table Tennis to create a new and exciting team event to assist our Olympic Team Members prepare for Tokyo," said Johnson. "The Westchester Club is the perfect location for this inaugural event, and we know that Will Shortz and his team will deliver! Go Team USA!" Entries are due by June 2, with a $250 buy-in for each team. In addition to strengthening our national team ahead of the Olympics, there will be the added incentive of $9,000 in total prize money. The first-place team will have to figure out a way to split $4,000 evenly between them. No matter who wins the big check, Team USA will be all the stronger headed to Tokyo.

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