To close 2023 with a flourish! Imperatriz-MA hosts the TMB Challenge Plus for the first time and ends the year with the 23rd edition of the competition

To close 2023 with a flourish! Imperatriz-MA hosts the TMB Challenge Plus for the first time and ends the year with the 23rd edition of the competition

Games, which are broadcast by MegeTT on YouTube, take place between Friday (10) and Sunday (12) at the city’s Convention Center

By Luis Miguel Ferreira

After a long year with exciting competitions, the time has come for the last edition of the TMB Challenge Plus in 2023. And nothing more special than finishing in a city that will host the competition for the first time. The 23rd edition will be hosted by Imperatriz, in Maranhão.

The competitions, organized by the Maranhão Table Tennis Federation, take place in the largest closed space for major events in the city: the Convention Center. The competition had 736 entries between the Olympic and Paralympic categories. In total, there are athletes from more than 30 clubs representing 16 states across the country’s five regions.

The event structure will have 20 months between the playing area and warm-up. Two of them will be in a complete taraflex floor area. The gym also has air conditioning for the athletes’ comfort.

”It is an honor to offer this opportunity for our region to host an event that has attracted the attention of so many athletes across the country. There will be almost 1000 games over three days. The city today has a club with more than 120 members, MegeTT. The event’s master sponsor is Curso Mege, a company preparing for public legal career competitions on an online platform, which has its administrative headquarters in the city of Imperatriz/MA and helps promote table tennis throughout the city. Without a doubt, this passion will increase even more after the competition.”, celebrated Arnaldo Bruno Oliveira, organizer of the event together with the Maranhão Table Tennis Federation, which continued.

”We are going to offer the biggest cash prize that CBTM has ever announced in this TMB model. R$15,000 distributed to the champions of all open classes, male and female, in addition to the Paralympic champions. The biggest prize of the year in Absolute A will also be at this stage, where we guarantee R$3,600.00 for the men’s champion; and R$3,600.00 for the women’s champion.”, he explained.

The competition is broadcast on the official Mege TT YouTube channel.

At the table, the fight for gold in the main women’s category, Absolute A, goes directly to the top of the national ranking. Leader of the ranking, Victoria Strassburger (Sogipa-RS) will have three opponents at the top of the podium: vice-leader Jéssica Prates (Yara Clube/Academia Nelson Machado/SELJ-Marília-SP), number five Tamyres Fukase (Associação Nikkey São José dos Campos-SP) and Larissa Riberti (Association of Table Tennis Players of the Interior of Pernambuco – AMIP -PE), 35th in the table.

The men’s competitions also feature the leader of the ranking: Gustavo Tsuboi (Life Pong-SP). To win the gold he will need to beat the competition from two young athletes: fourth in the national ranking Abimael Araújo (Associação Cultural Nipo Brasileira de São Caetano do Sul/Bunka-SP) and number 28 in the country, Theo Cruz (AMF/ Elase Social and Sports Club-SC).

Check out the general event schedule:

10/11 (Friday)

• 08:00 | Event Opening Ceremony.
• 09:00 | Start of games (Rating)
• 12:30 | Interval
• 21:00 | Awards

11/11 (Saturday)

• 09:00 | Start of games (Age and Paralympic categories)
• 12:30 | Interval
• 21:00 | Awards

12/11 (Sunday)

• 09:00 | Start of games (Absolutes)
• 12:30 | Interval
• 20:00 | Awards
• 20:30 | Closing party