With the Tokyo Olympic Games upon us, here’s everything you need to know about table tennis. <\/p>
After a year\u2019s delay, the Olympics 2020<\/a> are here, meaning it\u2019s time to dip our toes into all sorts of sporting events that we might not normally watch.<\/p>\n One of those sports is table tennis \u2013 or ping pong, as it is often known \u2013 which will feature 172 players, with matches taking place at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium from 24th July to 6th August.<\/p>\n Team GB has two players competing, both in the singles, so if you want to keep up with their progress \u2013 or simply fancy a rundown of all the rules of the sport \u2013 you can read our comprehensive guide below.<\/p>\n RadioTimes.com<\/span><\/a> has broken down everything you need to know about table tennis, from how to watch the Olympics, what the rules are and who\u2019ll be competing for Great Britain.<\/p>\n Read on for everything you need to know about table tennis at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.\n<\/p>\n Table tennis runs between Saturday 24th July<\/strong> until Friday 6th August<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The Doubles event will run first, then the Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s Singles competitions, before it all wraps up with the Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s Doubles.<\/p>\n Check out our guide on how to watch Olympics 2020<\/a> or see Olympics on TV today<\/a> for more details, timings, and exclusive expert analysis from some of the biggest names in world sport over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n Sir Chris Hoy, Beth Tweddle, Rebecca Adlington, Matthew Pinsent and Dame Jess Ennis-Hill are among the stars we have to being their esteemed opinions, so don\u2019t miss what they have to say.<\/p>\n In the grand scheme of things, table tennis is still relatively new to the Olympics, having made its first appearance at the Games in Seoul in 1988.<\/p>\n In the time since it was introduced, competitors from China have dominated the awards tables \u2013 incredibly managing to win as many as 28 out of a possible 32 gold medals!<\/p>\n There are five events in total, including the Men\u2019s Singles and Women\u2019s Singles, both of which have been part of the programme since 1988.<\/p>\n From 2008 onwards the Men\u2019s Team and Women\u2019s Team events were brought in as a replacement for the previous doubles tournaments and these remain in place for this summer\u2019s games.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in the 2020 games, there will be a mixed doubles event as well \u2013 the first of its kind at the Olympics.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, both the Men\u2019s Team and the Women\u2019s Team missed out on qualification to this year\u2019s Olympics, while Team GB also don\u2019t have anybody competing in the Mixed Doubles.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, two Team GB table tennis players are traveling to Tokyo for the singles, including World No.15 Liam Pitchford<\/strong> in his third Olympics, and Tin-Tin Ho<\/strong> \u2013 who becomes the first female GB table tennis player to qualify for an Olympic Games since Atlanta 1996<\/p>\n\n A total of 16 teams qualify for the Team Events, with each continent holding a qualifying competition to qualify one team. Nine further teams qualify through a world qualifying event, while Japan, as the hosts, were guaranteed a team spot.<\/p>\n The mixed doubles also has 16 pairs qualify, with similar continental qualifying competitions. A further four teams qualify through the World Tour Grand Finals 2019, another five through the World Tour 2020 and Japan are guaranteed a place.\u00a0<\/p>\n For the singles, between 64 and 70 individual players qualify. Each country with a qualified team is able to enter a maximum of two members of that team in the individual competition, while 22 quota places are awarded through continental championships.<\/p>\n The remainder of the places are filled through a final world singles qualifying tournament and the official world rankings.<\/p>\n A standard table tennis table is 2.74m (9 ft) long, 1.525 m (5 ft) wide, and 76 cm (2.5 ft) high.<\/p>\n The rules for table tennis are relatively straightforward: to win a game, a competitor must win 11 points and be at least two points clear of their opponent. Matches are the best of seven games in the singles events and the best of five games in the team events.<\/p>\n Each player gets two serves in a row before it alternates, and when serving the player must throw the ball upwards before making contact with their bat.<\/p>\n The serve has to land on the server\u2019s side of the table first, and in singles it can then land anywhere on the opposite side of the table, while in doubles it must go from right to right.<\/p>\n It\u2019s against the rules to hit the ball before it bounces \u2013 meaning that doing so will see you lose the point instantly \u2013 while it is also against the rules to hit the table with your non-bat hand.<\/p>\n In doubles, teammates must alternate hitting balls in a rally, no matter who is nearest the ball when it lands on the table.<\/p>\n Radio Times Olympics Special issue<\/a> is on sale now.<\/strong><\/p>\n With the Tokyo Olympic Games upon us, here’s everything you need to know about table tennis. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":2093,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/table-tennis-at-the-olympics-gb-team-rules-and-size-of-the-table.jpg",620,413,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/table-tennis-at-the-olympics-gb-team-rules-and-size-of-the-table-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/table-tennis-at-the-olympics-gb-team-rules-and-size-of-the-table-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/table-tennis-at-the-olympics-gb-team-rules-and-size-of-the-table.jpg",620,413,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/table-tennis-at-the-olympics-gb-team-rules-and-size-of-the-table.jpg",620,413,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/table-tennis-at-the-olympics-gb-team-rules-and-size-of-the-table.jpg",620,413,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/table-tennis-at-the-olympics-gb-team-rules-and-size-of-the-table.jpg",620,413,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"With the Tokyo Olympic Games upon us, here's everything you need to know about table tennis.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/2092"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}When is table tennis at the Olympics?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
When did table tennis become an Olympic sport?<\/h2>\n
How many table tennis categories are there?<\/h2>\n
Which Team GB athletes are in Tokyo?<\/h2>\n
How to qualify for table tennis<\/h2>\n
What is the size of a table tennis table?<\/h2>\n
What are the rules?<\/h2>\n
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