Table Tennis at the 2020 Summer Olympics

The table tennis competitions were held between 24 July and 6 August in the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium (Tōkyō Taiikukan). A total of 174 athletes (86 men and 88 women), representing 57 NOCs, competed in five events. For the first time since 2008, when the men’s and women’s doubles were replaced by respective team events, the program was changed. In line with the IOC’s attempt to introduce more mixed events, a mixed doubles contest was added. Interestingly, the women’s singles saw 70 players competing compared to 65 in the men’s event. For the mixed doubles, as well as for both team events, only one team per country could qualify for a maximum of 16 teams in each event.

Just like at the 2008-16 Olympics, the People’s Republic of China took gold and silver in both men and women’s singles and also gold in the two team events. Ma Long repeated his 2016 double gold success, while the women’s events saw the rise of Chen Meng taking gold in both the singles and team event. In the mixed, Japan with Rio medallists Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito probably benefitted from the home advantage and defeated the Chinese pair in seven hard-fought games, 4-3. In the medal count, Japan placed second behind the dominant Chinese with one gold, one silver and two bronze. The 32-year-old veteran Dimitrij Ovtcharov won bronze in the singles and silver in the team event as Germany’s top player. He added the medals number five and six to his tally, as he took home at least one medal from every Olympics since 2008.