The World Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) presented during the week the qualification system for the sport’s Olympic tournament in Paris 2024. The qualification will start “running” from June 2023 and those interested can find all the details at Qualification System for the Paris 2024 Olympic Table Tennis Event. The five events, which took place last year in Tokyo, remain on the schedule for the Games in the French capital, which will be held two years from now (from July 27 to August 10 the games of the sport). The events are men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s team, women’s team, as well as the mixed doubles, which first appeared last summer in Japan. Before looking in more detail at the qualifying system let’s first note some general information, provided by the ITTF:
The total number of entries for table tennis remains 172. It is the limit of 86 men and 86 women and includes 6 places for the host country and 2 world places. Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) has a maximum quota of 3of positions for men and women.
The team events will consist of 16 teams and each one will consist of three athletes and the same number of athletes per NOC. The mixed doubles competition will also start with a draw of ’16’ and with one pair per NOC.
In singles events, depending on the number of qualifying places available after the distribution of the mixed doubles quota, up to 70 players can participate with a maximum of four players (two men and two women) per NOC.
The host country will be guaranteed one place in the team for each gender, two places in the singles for each gender and one place in the mixed doubles.
The tournament will run from 27 July to 10 August 2024, with the first final taking place on Tuesday 30 July. Table tennis will be hosted at the South Paris Arena #4, an exhibition and convention center that will be an important hub for the Paris Games.
Table tennis first appeared at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, with singles and doubles for men and women. In 2008 the doubles event was replaced by the team event and the program was expanded for the 2020 Tokyo Games to include mixed doubles. This brought the number of events to a total of five, allowing the same number of women and men to take part in the sport’s Olympic tournaments.
The key points in the Qualification System for the Paris 2024 Olympic Table Tennis Event.
In the team:
6 teams: The highest ranked National Olympic Committee in each Continental Qualifying event will be awarded one (1) team quota place.
8 teams: The countries that reach the quarter-finals of the 2024 World Team Championship will fill 8 spots for the Olympic team.
1 team: The country with the highest ranking in the world ranking of national teams, from those not already qualified in another way. It measures the WTR, which will be published immediately after the 2024 World Team Championships
1 team: The host country is guaranteed one team at the event (if not already qualified through the other criteria).
In the mixed doubles:
6 Pairs: The highest placed duo in each continental qualifying event will earn a berth to the Olympic tournament.
4 Pairs: Those who reach the semi-finals in a scheduled qualifying event for Paris in March or April 2024 will secure a place in the event.
5 pairs: The 5 highest ranked twins in the mixed doubles world rankings for week No 19 of 2024 (to be Tuesday 7 May 2024), of those of course not already qualified and from different NOCs, of those already secured presence at the event, they will also have a quota place.
1 pair: This is for the host country and is guaranteed (if the country has not already qualified a pair through the other criteria).
In simple terms:
32 athletes: Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) with a qualified team through the Team Qualification system gets two quota places for the singles. The top two athletes of each qualifying team in the individual ranking list of week number 25 of 2024 (Tuesday, June 18, 2024) will be recorded as singles qualifiers and as members of the team.
22 athletes: As determined by each continent, there will be a qualifying event. Twenty-two male athletes (and an equal number of female athletes of course) will each receive a place for Paris either through the Continental Qualification or from the global individual ranking table.
The qualifying table from each continent through the Continental races:
CONTINENT TEAM MIXED SINGLE
Africa 1 1 4
Asia 1 1 6
Europe 1 1 6
America (South and North America) 2 2 5
Oceania 1 1 1
Up to 15 athletes: Up to 15 athletes will receive a quota place through the world individual ranking in week number 25 (Tuesday 18 June 2024) subject of course to the maximum quota per NOC and qualification places, corresponding to each continent.
* The maximum quota will be 15, depending on the number of quotas available after the allocation of qualifying places for the double mixed
1 Universality place: It is the one universal place, which will be assigned to a National Olympic Committee, which naturally has the right to participate in the Olympic tournament.
Host country positions: The country hosting the Olympic Games is guaranteed:
One (1) group quota place per gender,
Two (2) places for men’s singles with the two (2) athletes with the highest ranking in the table of week number 25 of 2024.
Two (2) spots for women’s singles with its two (2) highest-ranked athletes in the table of week number 25 of 2024.
One (1) mixed doubles quota place for the highest ranked mixed doubles pair. The world ranking for the event in week 19 (Tuesday 7 May 2024) will be decisive.
Universal places: The two world positions will be given by a Tripartite Committee. The International Olympic Committee will invite in October 2023 all National Olympic Committees to submit requests for these positions and the relevant deadline will end in January 2024. When the entire qualification process is over the Tripartite Committee decides where to give the two additional ” tickets’ for the top event. Invitations will be given to athletes who will be on the international ranking list at least from July 2023 to June 2024.
# Match dates have not been announced yet.
# All relevant information is included in the section “Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, Paris 2024 – Olympic Games Universality Places – Allocation Procedure and Regulations”.
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