With the lofty ambition of eventually becoming the world's best table tennis circuit, the T. League kicked off competition at a lavishly decorated Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on Wednesday night.
The organizers staged a glitzy opening show, featuring choreographed lighting and videos played on screens hung in the middle of the arena and a performance by an orchestra, about 30 miniutes before the historic inaugural match between T.T Saitama and Kinoshita Meister Tokyo.
Moments before the scheduled start time, league chairman Koji Matsushita loudly declared: "We will now start the T.League."