Olympic champion Ding Ning to play inaugural T2 Asia-Pacific League season

DUSSELDORF, Germany, May 30 (Xinhua) -- China's Olympic champion Ding Ning will take part in the T2 Asia-Pacific League inaugural season, and also act as an ambassador to promote the event, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) announced here on Tuesday.

Ding, also the defending world singles champion, said in a statement that she is delighted to be joining the league and is excited by the event's unique rules format.

"I am truly honored to be part of this first-ever event. The tournament promises to be very competitive with so many world-class players in the tournament, which will motivate me to do my best. But I am looking forward to the team selection and new scoring format that will make it very interesting to players, viewers and fans, and raise the level of interest in table tennis around the world," Ding was quoted as saying.

Unlike a traditional match of table tennis, the T2APAC will feature a 24 minute time limit with players aiming to claim as many games as possible in the space of time.

All players will play in separate but concurrent singles and mixed-team championships in a league format. All players will go through a draft selection process which will be selected by team captains.