Indian American Investors, Athletes Driving Major League Table Tennis

Sid Naresh. Photo -Matthew TW Huang

India-West Staff Reporter

LOS ANGELES, CA – In a sports landscape saturated with basketball, football, and baseball, one unlikely contender is spinning into the spotlight: table tennis. Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in 2023 by software entrepreneur and lifelong enthusiast Flint Lane, is aiming to make the high-speed, globally beloved sport a permanent fixture in American professional athletics.

The league’s inaugural season kicked off in Daytona Beach, Florida, on September 15, 2023, just weeks after a splashy debut on ESPN’s Ocho Day—a playful but increasingly visible platform for unconventional sports. MLTT returned to Ocho Day in 2024, cementing its media presence and offering mainstream viewers a first taste of its electrifying, fast-paced format.

Since then, MLTT has grown to include ten franchises spanning the U.S., with new additions in major markets like New York and Atlanta. Among the most recent developments: the Seattle Spinners, one of MLTT’s founding teams, have been acquired by an LLC led entirely by Indian-American shareholders. The franchise is relocating to Los Angeles ahead of the 2025 season, signaling the league’s ambition to bring professional table tennis to the nation’s entertainment capital.

The league’s appeal isn’t limited to fans. NBA Hall of Famer Manu Ginobili is a part-owner of the Florida Crocs, while Germany’s world top-10 table tennis star Dimitrij Ovtcharov has invested in the Princeton Revolution. Players from over 40 countries populate team rosters, but one of the most notable demographics emerging within MLTT is the growing presence and influence of players and investors of Indian origin.

Among them is Adi Sareen, an Indian-origin player for the soon-to-be LA-based Spinners, who currently resides in New Jersey and holds a U.S. green card. The Texas Smash, owned by Mahesh Joshi, features promising talents like Nandan Naresh and Anirban Ghosh. The Atlanta Blazers field Jeet Chandra, another standout from India, while the Portland Paddlers are home to Nikhil Kumar and Sid Naresh, who not only shine in MLTT but also represent Team USA on the international stage.

MLTT’s match format itself is engineered for entertainment: five games per team match—two singles, one doubles, followed by two more singles. Players compete for 21 points total, and in the event of a tie, teams face off in a “Golden Game,” a thrilling, rotating race-to-21 featuring all five players. The Golden Game is worth six additional points, often determining the match’s outcome and injecting suspense into every contest.

While MLTT nurtures homegrown stars, the league’s broader ambition is clear: establish table tennis as a sustainable and spectator-friendly sport in the U.S. Its leadership is investing in media visibility, athlete support, and fan engagement. In doing so, MLTT isn’t just growing a league—it’s fostering a cultural and generational shift.

Though most of the league’s rising stars play domestically, the highest-ranked American table tennis player, Kanak Jha, also of Indian descent, continues to train and compete primarily in Europe. His success underscores the gap MLTT hopes to bridge: building a world-class ecosystem at home so future talents like the Naresh brothers or Adi Sareen can thrive without leaving the country.

As MLTT heads into its third season with a stronger national footprint and a diverse player base, its formula of global flair, fast-paced innovation, and a growing South Asian backbone might just be the rallying force American table tennis has been waiting for.