Special Rules of Table Tennis in Olympics Tokyo 2021

Table Tennis Olympics is the most prestigious tournament (Games of the XXXII Olympiad, Tokyo 2021). Therefore, there are some specific rules that you should know. Unlike the normal tournament, there are some different rules than the basic rules in table tennis.

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Qualification Rules

There are limit of participants allowed in Olympic Games table tennis.

Here are the list of LIST OF QUALIFIED TEAMS for both Men and Women Team.

Pos.	Player	Country	YOB
1	BOLL Timo	GER	1981
2	FALCK Mattias	SWE	1991
3	OVTCHAROV Dimitrij	GER	1988
4	FRANZISKA Patrick	GER	1992
5	PITCHFORD Liam	ENG	1993
6	GROTH Jonathan	DEN	1992
7	SAMSONOV Vladimir	BLR	1976
8	KARLSSON Kristian	SWE	1991
9	FREITAS Marcos	POR	1988
10	FILUS Ruwen	GER	1988
11	GAUZY Simon	FRA	1994
12	WALTHER Ricardo	GER	1991
13	LEBESSON Emmanuel	FRA	1988
14	HABESOHN Daniel	AUT	1986
15	APOLONIA Tiago	POR	1986
16	KOU Lei	UKR	1987
17	IONESCU Ovidiu	ROU	1989
18	DUDA Benedikt	GER	1994
19	GIONIS Panagiotis	GRE	1980
20	TOKIC Bojan	SLO	1981
21	GARDOS Robert	AUT	1979
22	ROBLES Alvaro	ESP	1991
23	STEGER Bastian	GER	1981
24	PERSSON Jon	SWE	1986
25	SKACHKOV Kirill	RUS	1987
26	FEGERL Stefan	AUT	1988
27	JORGIC Darko	SLO	1998
28	PISTEJ Lubomir	SVK	1984
29	GACINA Andrej	CRO	1986
30	DYJAS Jakub	POL	1995
31	NUYTINCK Cedric	BEL	1993
32	PUCAR Tomislav	CRO	1996
33	WANG Yang	SVK	1994
34	AKKUZU Can	FRA	1997
35	STOYANOV Niagol	ITA	1987
36	OLAH Benedek	FIN	1991
37	BOBOCICA Mihai	ITA	1986
38	JANCARIK Lubomir	CZE	1987
39	SZOCS Hunor	ROU	1992
40	KHANIN Aliaksandr	BLR	1998
41	LIND Anders	DEN	1998
42	LAMBIET Florent	BEL	1995
43	GERALDO Joao	POR	1995
44	WALKER Samuel	ENG	1995
45	SHIBAEV Alexander	RUS	1990
46	ROBINOT Alexandre	FRA	1995
47	SIRUCEK Pavel	CZE	1992
48	DEVOS Robin	BEL	1994
49	LEVENKO Andreas	AUT	1998
50	LIVENTSOV Alexey	RUS	1981

Pos.	Player	Country	YOB
1	SZOCS Bernadette	ROU	1995
2	POLCANOVA Sofia	AUT	1994
3	SAMARA Elizabeta	ROU	1989
4	SOLJA Petrissa	GER	1994
5	LI Jie	NED	1984
6	EKHOLM Matilda	SWE	1982
7	POTA Georgina	HUN	1985
8	HAN Ying	GER	1983
9	YU Fu	POR	1978
10	LI Qian	POL	1986
11	EERLAND Britt	NED	1994
12	NI Xia Lian	LUX	1963
13	MIKHAILOVA Polina	RUS	1986
14	MITTELHAM Nina	GER	1996
15	BALAZOVA Barbora	SVK	1992
16	XIAO Maria	ESP	1994
17	PESOTSKA Margaryta	UKR	1991
18	WINTER Sabine	GER	1992
19	MATELOVA Hana	CZE	1990
20	NOSKOVA Yana	RUS	1994
21	PERGEL Szandra	HUN	1988
22	GAPONOVA Ganna	UKR	1985
23	SOLJA Amelie	AUT	1990
24	LIU Jia	AUT	1982
25	PARTYKA Natalia	POL	1989
26	MADARASZ Dora	HUN	1993
27	DE NUTTE Sarah	LUX	1992
28	GALIC Alex	SLO	1994
29	CECHOVA Dana	CZE	1983
30	DVORAK Galia	ESP	1988
31	BERGSTROM Linda	SWE	1995
32	BILENKO Tetyana	UKR	1983
33	YANG Xiaoxin	MON	1988
34	LOEUILLETTE Stephanie	FRA	1992
35	GASNIER Laura	FRA	1993
36	SHAO Jieni	POR	1994
37	MORET Rachel	SUI	1989
38	TAILAKOVA Mariia	RUS	2001
39	LUPULESKU Izabela	SRB	1999
40	LANG Kristin	GER	1985
41	JEGER Mateja	CRO	1995
42	PAVLOVICH Viktoria	BLR	1978
43	VIVARELLI Debora	ITA	1993
44	PICCOLIN Giorgia	ITA	1996
45	ZHANG Sofia-Xuan	ESP	1999
46	MONTEIRO DODEAN Daniela	ROU	1988
47	ADAMKOVA Karin	CZE	1994
48	TRIGOLOS Daria	BLR	1999
49	BOGDANOVA Nadezhda	BLR	2000
50	CHASSELIN Pauline	FRA	1997

• There are only 16 teams that is qualified for the Table Tennis Olympics
• Each country with a qualified Men’s or Women’s Team will be entitled to nominate only two (2) athletes to compete in the Singles events.
• Maximum of one (1) team per country can participate. Even if some country is very strong in table tennis, like China.

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Changes from Previous Olympics (Rio 2016/PyeongChang 2018)

There are also some modifications compared to the previous Olympics.

Clothing

One identification of the manufacturer will be permitted on Zippers and Buttons, and should appear in the same colour as the concerned item (i.e. tone on tone), as long as such identifications are deemed not conspicuous by the IOC.

Size and frequency of Authorised Identifications is modified.

Eyewear

Eyewear may carry the identification of the manufacturer as generally used on products sold through the retail trade during the period of 6 months or more prior to the Games, with the Identifications permitted on the lenses so long as such identifications are tone-on-tone, engraved into the lens, and is not deemed as conspicuous by the IOC.

Headgear

Additional option – Two Identifications of the Manufacturer per accessory item will be permitted, to a maximum size of 5 cm2 each, placed above each ear. One identification of the manufacturer per item, with a maximum size of 10 cm2.

Footwear

In principle, athletes’ names are not allowed on the footwear unless listed as a technical requirement in the sport specific implementation section or are found on shoes sold on the retail consumer market six (6) months prior to the Games.

Items That Must Remain Unbranded

Certain items, due in particular to their potential for abuse in the context of product placement or advertising on the Field of Play (FOP), should at all times remain unbranded and/or not feature any Identification (by covering any existing Identification) if brought by the participant on the FOP or in camera view.

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Consequently, the following Items may not feature any Identification of the Manufacturer: headphones, water bottles, coolers, umbrellas, towels, bandages (i.e. kinesio tape), contact lenses, earplugs, mouth guards and nose clips. This list is an exemplary and non-exhaustive list and may be amended and completed when necessary by the IOC.

Paddle/Racket

Up to 3 Identifications of the Manufacturer will be permitted on the blade (one on each side and on the bottom of the grip), one Identification of the Manufacturer will be permitted on each rubber (embossed on the rubber as authorised by the ITTF), and one Identification of the Manufacturer, with a maximum length of 4cm, will be permitted
on racket side tape.

The total combined size of these Identifications of the Manufacturer shall not be greater than 10% of the surface area of the item, to a maximum total size of 60 cm2.

Here are some of the General Guidelines Regarding Authorised Identifications Games of the XXXII Olympiad Tokyo 2021.

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Qualification Rules system of table tennis in Olympics

Number of events

There are 5 events of table tennis in Olympics:

• Men’s Events (2): Singles, and Team
• Women’s Events (2): Singles, and Team
• Mixed Event (1): Mixed Doubles

ATHLETES QUOTA

• Men: 82 (Qualification Places) + 3 (Host Country Places) + 1 (Tripartite Commission Invitation Places)
• Women: 82 (Qualification Places) + 3 (Host Country Places) + 1 (Tripartite Commission Invitation Places)
• Total: 172

Maximum Number of Athletes per country:

• Men: 3
  – Maximum 1 Team of 3 athletes
  – Maximum 2 athletes in singles
  – Maximum 1 athlete in mixed doubles
• Women 3
  – Maximum 1 Team of 3 athletes
  – Maximum 2 athletes in singles
  – Maximum 1 athlete in mixed doubles
• Total: 6/ country

Team qualification:

• 6 Continental Team qualification with one team (3 athletes) per country
• 9 World Team qualification with one team (3 athletes) per country
• 1 Host Country (if not already qualified)
• Total = 16

Singles qualification:

• 32 With two (2) athletes nominated from each country with one qualified team.
• 22 Continental Singles qualification with a maximum of two (2) athletes from the same country
• 1 Tripartite Commission Invitation place
• 2-8 Not less than 2 and not more than 8 from the Final World Singles Qualifying Tournament
• 1-13 Minimum 1 from ITTF World Ranking
• Total = 64-70 With a maximum of two (2) athletes from the same country to participate in singles events

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Olympic Table Tennis Scoring Rules

How many games in a match?

A match is the best of 7 games in the men’s and women’s individual events and the best of 5 games in the men’s and women’s team events. In team events, the first team to win 3 games is the overall winner.

Towel off and time out

You are allowed to wipe yourself off (towering) every 6 points during a match, such as 3-3, 6-6, 4-2, etc.

Each player (or double team) is authorized to claim 1 time-out of one minute maximum during a match.

You are allowed to a maximum rest period of 1 minute between matches. During this rest period, you must leave your racket on the table.

International Officials and Referee for Olympics Table Tennis

References:

• IOC Guidelines Table Tennis
• https://tokyo2020.org/en/games/schedule/olympic/

 

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