Paris Olympics: What to know and who to watch during the table tennis competition

1 of 3 |

FILE - China’s Wang Chuqin returns a ball from Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting during the Table Tennis Men’s Singles semi-final match for the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, Monday, Oct. 2, 2023. No. 1 in the men’s singles ranking, Wang was an alternate for the Chinese team at the Tokyo Games. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

2 of 3 |

FILE - China’s Ma Long serves the ball during the table tennis men’s team gold medal match against Germany’s Timo Boll at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 6, 2021, in Tokyo. The 35-year-old table tennis icon is the reigning Olympic and World Cup singles champion. He also won the Olympic gold medal in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

3 of 3 |

FILE - China’s Sun Yingsha returns to China’s Wang Yidi during the final in the World Table Tennis Cup Finals in Singapore, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021. Sun is the top-ranked woman and the defending World Cup singles champion. She also helped China win gold at the Tokyo Games in the women’s team competition. (AP Photo/Paul Miller, File)

A roadmap to follow for the table tennis competition at the Paris Olympics:

Athletes to Watch

—Ma Long, China: The 35-year-old table tennis icon is the reigning Olympic champion. He also won the Olympic gold medal in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

—Sun Yingsha, China: Sun is the top-ranked woman and helped China win gold at the Tokyo Games in the women’s team competition.

—Wang Chuqin, China: No. 1 in the men’s singles ranking, Wang was an alternate for the Chinese team at the Tokyo Games.

—Felix Lebrun, France: The 17-year-old Lebrun is considered one of the rising stars in the sport. At No. 5 in the world, Lebrun is the highest-ranked player from anywhere outside of China.

—Timo Boll, Germany: The 43-year-old will retire from international table tennis after the Paris Games, ending a 25-year career. He will become the sixth table tennis player to participate in seven different Olympic Games.

Paris Olympics

The Olympics are more than fun and games. They’re a billion-dollar business with political overtones.
Breakdance will make it’s debut as an Olympic sport in Paris.. Here’s what else will be different at this year’s games.
Follow all of AP’s coverage of the Summer Games.

Storylines to Follow

—China aims to increase its dominance of the sport that was added to the Olympic program at Seoul in 1988. Chinese athletes have won 32 of the 37 gold medals so far, and 60 of the 115 total medals. The only other nations to have won gold medals are South Korea (three) and Japan and Sweden (one each).

—Young brothers Felix and Alexis Lebrun have quickly risen through the ranks and could be vying for medals at their home Olympics. Both were ranked over 750th in the world in 2022, and are now in the top 20. They played for France when it lost to China in the world team championships final in February.

—Ni Xialian of Luxembourg will be the oldest table tennis player in Paris at age 61, while Miwa Harimoto of Japan will be the youngest at age 16.

—One-armed Brazilian player Bruna Alexandre will be competing in both the Olympics and the Paralympics Games.

—India will be making its first team appearance, while there will be first-time players from Madagascar, Maldives, Nepal and Moldova.

Key Dates

The table tennis competition runs July 27 to Aug. 10. The singles events take place in the first week with the women’s final on Aug. 3 and the men’s final on Aug. 4. The team events are staged in the second week, with men’s medals awarded on Aug. 9 and the women’s team medals on Aug. 10.

Reigning Champions

Women’s singles: Chen Meng, China.

Women’s team: China (Chen Meng, Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu).

Men’s singles: Ma Long, China

Men’s team: China (Fan Zhendong, Ma Long and Xu Xin).

Mixed doubles: Japan (Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito).

___

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Olympic Hightlights

1 of 7 |

FILE - South Africa’s Jacques Freitag competes in the men’s high jump of the 2004 Olympic Games, in the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Friday Aug. 20, 2004. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

2 of 7 |

FILE - Ilona Maher of USA is tackled by Sharni Williams of Australia in a semifinal of the Rugby World Cup 7’s championship held in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022. The main task for Maher, the breakout social media star on TikTok at the Tokyo Olympics, is winning a medal in Paris. (AP Photo/Halden Krog, File)

3 of 7 |

FILE - Jacques Freitag of South Africa waves his national flag after he won the Men’s high jump event at the World Athletics Championships, at the Stade de France in Saint Denis, north of Paris, Monday, Aug. 25, 2003. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, File)

4 of 7 |

Sammy Sullivan of USA in action during HSBC rugby sevens series in Singapore, on May 4, 2024. The anthem played as Army officer Sammy Sullivan stood to attention and saluted beside her U.S. rugby teammates before a gold-medal game in Hong Kong against Olympic champion New Zealand. No prizes for guessing where her mind may have drifted to: Paris in July. (AP Photo/Suhaimi Abdullah)

5 of 7 |

USA Water Polo Women’s Senior National Team attacker Ryann Neushul, left, trains at Long Beach City College Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Long Beach, Calif. Following in the footsteps of two older sisters who won gold with the U.S. women’s water polo team, Ryann Neushul is making her Olympic debut in Paris this summer. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

6 of 7 |

Iranian wrestler Iman Mahdavi, 28, practices at the Lotta Club Seggiano gym, in Pioltello , northern Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

7 of 7 |

FILE - Steven van de Velde of the Netherlands competes during the CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup Vienna 2022 men’s semifinal game against Austria at the Red Bull Beach Arena in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Van de Velde, convicted and imprisoned eight years ago for raping an underage girl in England has qualified for the Paris Olympics. (AP Photo/Florian Schroetter, File)