Table tennis at Paris 2024 Olympics: Preview, full schedule and how to watch live

Stars to watch in table tennis at Paris 2024

Chinese paddlers have won all but one gold medal since their home Olympic Games Beijing 2008, and all but five in the sport’s Olympic Games history.

Last time out, in the debut of mixed doubles as an Olympic event, Japan’s Mizutani Jun and Ito Mima won gold on home soil. Before that, you have to go back to Athens 2004 for the last non-Chinese gold, when Republic of Korea’s Ryu Seungmin won the men’s singles title.

So, unsurprisingly, Chinese stars are once more at the forefront. But the men’s defending champion, Ma Long, is only entered in the team event this time, meaning his compatriots Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin – the world numbers two and one respectively – are top of the list to succeed him.

But there is a strong chasing pack, which includes world number five (and tournament third seed) Félix Lebrun of hosts France. The 17-year-old has soared up the rankings and even the Chinese team has recognised his potential to play spoiler.

Runaway world number one Sun Yingsha is favourite to take the women’s singles crown from her teammate Chen Meng, who is now ranked world number four. Chen will hope for a repeat of Tokyo, however, when she defeated Sun in the final.

With Mizutani now retired and Ito not selected for Japan’s team after a disappointing performance in the national selection tournament, the mixed doubles will have new champions. China are looking to win the event, the only one of seven in the sport’s Olympic history they have never claimed gold in, and have therefore sent the strongest pair possible: Wang and Sun together, the men’s and women’s top-ranked players.

And it would be a surprise if China, with the addition of Ma in the men’s event and Wang Manyu in the women’s, didn’t take gold in the team events again this year.