MBF started the Finnish Championship season promisingly by beating last spring's bronze medal team PT-75 4-3 at the Tampere team's home stadium. However, it will be a tough task to win the championship again, as KoKa, the clear favorite of the season, beat MBF 5-1.

MBF's top two, Lassi Lehtola and Madis Moos, defeated Jimi Koivumäki as expected, and Moos also took a clear victory over the opponents' second man, Riku Autio.

However, the fourth match victory guaranteed by the victory was a close one, as Otto Tennilä had defeated Lehtola and Autio beat Miikka O'Connor.

Miikka, who returned to the MBF jersey after his junior years, however, showed his best by beating Tennilä. The fight between the Pongfinity masters was the absolute number one event of the entire Finnish Championship opening, as the men served up a stunning thriller. Miikka took the match with the scores 11-9, 15-13, 9-11, 9-11, 12-10.

In the final doubles match, a full point pot remained a dream, as Tennilä/Koivumäki took a surprisingly clear victory over Lehtola/Moos.

KoKa has already been tipped as the big favorite for the series, with Benedek Olah and Alex Naumi at the top of the rankings. Lehtola and Moos tested the top names in three matches, all of which ended in a 1-3 draw. Set wins suggest that the task is not impossible, but this time turning the matches into wins was still an overwhelming task. Moos brought a consolation point by beating Rasmus Vesalainen 3-0 in the set.

The Finnish Championship continues in Koski on November 7-8.11, when MBF's opponents are Smash, PT Oulu, PT Jyväskylä and OPT-86.

Text and photo: Thomas Hallbäck