In the first appearance at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, table tennis, also known as ping pong, was organized with 4 events, i.e. Singles and Doubles in both the Men’s and Women’s categories.
In the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, the Doubles event (Men’s & Women’s) was replaced by the Team event, and, in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the Mixed Doubles event was further added making it a total of 5 events.
The upcoming Paris Olympics 2024 will follow the same events.
- Men’s Singles
- Women’s Singles
- Men’s Team
- Women’s Team
- Mixed Doubles
In Paris, the format of table tennis events differs from that of its two popular racket sports, tennis and badminton. It’s good for ping ping lovers to feel the excitement of more contests.
Table Tennis | Tennis | Badminton |
Men’s Singles Women’s Singles Mixed Doubles Men’s Team Women’s Team | Men’s Singles Women’s Singles Men’s Doubles Women’s Doubles Mixed Doubles | Men’s Singles Women’s Singles Men’s Doubles Women’s Doubles Mixed Doubles |
Table Tennis Event Format in Paris Olympics 2024
Out of a total of 172 athletes, 70 singles players will participate in each Men’s and Women’s Categories. 16 pairs will take part in the Mixed Doubles event.
Men’s and Women’s Singles start with qualification rounds, followed by the round of 64, round of 32, round of 16, quarterfinal, semifinal, and final.
In Mixed Doubles, each pair has to win 4 consecutive matches, i.e. R/16, Quarterfinal, Semifinal, and Final to win the Gold Medal.
Except for the Team Events, all matches are played with 7 sets. To win a match, a player/ pair (Singles or Mixed Doubles) has to win 4 out of 7 sets, like 4-0, 4-1, 4-2, or 4-3 / 0-4, 1-4, 2-4, or 3-4.
The format of the Team event (Men’s / Women’s) is a bit complex. A team consists of 3 players. The winner of 3 matches goes to the next round. If neither side wins three consecutive matches, two extra matches are played. The order of team matches is as follows.
- Doubles
- Singles
- Singles
- Singles
- Singles
The participation of players obeys the following logic.
- A player is not allowed to play two matches in succession.
- Any player can play a maximum of 2 matches.
Order of 5-match Team event
Match | Order 1 (A + B + C) | Vs | Order 2 (X +Y +Z) | |
1 | Doubles | B & C | Y & Z | |
2 | Singles | A | X | |
3 | Singles | C | Z | |
4 | Singles | A | Y | |
5 | Singles | B | X |
Before the team matches the right to choose ABC or XYZ is to be decided by lot and the captain names the two individual players for the Singles matches.
The team matches are played with a best-of-5-sets format.
Table Tennis Event Schedule in Paris Olympics 2024
Table Tennis will start with Men’s and Women’s Singles Event on 27th July and end with Women’s Team Final match on 10th August 2024.
The final match will decide the Gold and Silver Medalists. The other two semifinalists will battle for the Bronze Medal.
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