Olympic Table Tennis
Olympic Table Tennis - Beijing, China 2008.
When does it all start? What can we look forward to? Find out here ...  I can't believe we've been watching Olympic table tennis for nearly twenty years already.
But it was in 1988 - in Seoul, South Korea - that table tennis first joined the Olympic Games and became an Olympic sport. I remember eagerly setting my video recorder for all the table tennis events and watching Yoo Nam-Kyu win the gold medal in his home country. by courtesy of the ITTF Fantastic. And with Jan-Ove Waldner winning gold in Barcelona in 1992, Liu Guoliang in Atlanta in 1996, Kong Linghui in Sydney in 2000 and Ryu Seung Min in Athens in 2004, we've seen some great olympic champions so far. I can't wait to watch the next one!  Mark the dates in your diary...
 Let's hope that the next Olympic Games - being held in Beijing in the People's Republic of China from 8 to 24 August 2008 - produces some more fabulous table tennis memories.
Although the opening ceremony takes place on 8 August 2008, the table tennis doesn't actually start until Wednesday 13 August 2008.
 However, there's a fabulous new state-of-the-art venue which has been built at Peking University specifically for this event - so the players will have the best possible conditions in which to play, so hopefully they'll produce some more fantastic table tennis memories for us.
 This new venue will be used solely for Olympic table tennis.
It has a total floor space of 26,900 square metres and seating for 8,000 spectators - with 6,000 seats being permanent and 2,000 temporary.
Logos, pictograms, icons, images ... Call them what you like ... but a set of thirty-five images based on Chinese seal characters have been produced for each Olympic sport. The pictograms are named "the beauty of seal characters" with the inspiration for the look coming from inscriptions on bones and bronze objects in ancient China. The official explanation says: Using the effect of the sharp contrast between the black and white colours - which the typical Chinese traditional artistic form of rubbings have - the pictograms display distinct motion character, graceful aesthetic perception of movement and rich cultural connotations, thus arriving at the harmony and unity of form with conception.
So now you know! There are thirty-five logos - one for each sport - athletics, rowing, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, canoe / kayak flatwater, canoe / kayak slalom, cycling, equestrian, fencing, football, artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline, weightlifting, handball, hockey, judo, wrestling, swimming, synchronized swimming, diving, water polo, modern pentathlon, softball, taekwondo, tennis, table tennis, shooting, archery, triathlon, sailing, volleyball and beach volleyball. This is the olympic table tennis logo:
So what competitions can we look forward to ... ? Olympic table tennis competition Well, the Olympic Table Tennis competition for 2008 will consist of four events: The maximum number of players who can take part in the table tennis events will be 86 men and 86 women - with not more than three men and three women from each National Olympic Committee (NOC).
Will all the best players be there? Unfortunately, because each NOC can only have a maximum of three men and three women competing, some of the stronger nations like China will have several players who, despite being in the top 20 of the World Ranking list, will not be at the Olympics. However, this'll mean that the rivalry between the various nationalities will be more intense, and should provide some excellent matches.
So which players will qualify? There's a complicated system of qualification for Olympic table tennis, but without getting too bogged down with the full details, here's a brief summary ... Singles Events For each of the singles events, 64 table tennis players will qualify for the Olympic Games as follows: The top 20 players on the ITTF World Ranking list as at 3 January 2008 (with a maximum of two players per NOC) 40 players who qualify via continental qualification events held between July 2007 and April 2008 (Africa 6, Asia 11, Europe 11, Latin America 6, North America 3 and Oceania 3) One player by invitation of the IOC/ANOC/ITTF (unless no suitable nominations - in which case this place will be added to the Final World Qualification Tournament) One player from the host nation (unless already qualified via ranking list or via their continental qualification event - in which case this place will be added to the Final World Qualification Tournament) The top two players at the Final World Qualification Tournament who have not already qualified. (This will be increased to three or four players if the host nation / invitation places are not required) Team Events For the team events, 16 teams will qualify for the Olympic Table Tennis as follows: Six continental teams - one each from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America and Oceania One host nation team (unless qualified via the continental quota - in which case this place will be added to the remaining selected teams) Nine remaining selected teams - initially based on players who have qualified for the singles event (This will be increased to ten teams if the host nation team is not required) Each team will consist of three players and they must all be from the same NOC. Each NOC is restricted to one team - but that team can include a player who is not playing in the singles event.
Competition formats Singles Events The singles events will follow the traditional knockout format.  The top 16 players will automatically advance to the third round, whilst the players ranked 17-32 will start in the second round.
by courtesy of the ITTF All other players will start in the first or qualifying rounds to earn the right to compete against the top 32 players. All matches will be the best of seven games. Team Events In the team events there will be a maximum of 16 teams. Teams consist of three players each. Each team match is called a "contest" and will be the best of three out of five matches. A contest consists of two singles, followed by one doubles, followed, if necessary, by one or two more singles until one team wins three matches. A team may play with only two players if the third player is injured, ill or disqualified - however, they forfeit the two matches which were due to be played by that third player. If both teams only have two players, the contest will be the best of two out of three matches. The order of play will be a singles match, followed by a doubles match, followed, if necessary by a final singles match.
More about the 2008 Olympic table tennis competition
Go to Table Tennis Tournaments page from Olympic Table Tennis Go to All About Table Tennis home page from Olympic Table Tennis
|
