Well, the table tennis competition currently consists of five events:

• Men's Singles
• Women's Singles
• Men's Teams
• Women's Teams
• Mixed Doubles

The team events replaced the doubles events in 2008, and mixed doubles was added for Tokyo 2020.

The maximum number of players who can take part in the Olympic Games table tennis events are 86 men and 86 women - with not more than three men and three women from each National Olympic Committee (NOC).

Additionally, in 2012, the maximum number of players per NOC who could take part in the singles events was reduced from three to two.

 

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The rules specify that each NOC can only have a maximum of three men and three women competing in the table tennis events.

Therefore some of the stronger nations like China have players who, despite being in the top 10 of the World Ranking list, cannot take part in the Olympic Games.

However, this means that the rivalry between the different nationalities is more intense, and provides excellent matches.

There's a complicated system of qualification for the Olympic Games table tennis events, but without getting too bogged down with the full details, here's a brief summary...

Team Events

For the team events, 16 teams qualify for the Olympic Games table tennis as follows:

• Six continental teams - one each from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America and Oceania.
  (Each NOC with a qualified Men's or Women's Team will be entitled to nominate two athletes to compete in the singles event).
  
  
• Nine teams from a World Team qualification event.
  (Each NOC with a qualified Men's or Women's Team will be entitled to nominate two athletes to compete in the singles event).
  
  
• One host nation team is guaranteed.
  
  

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.

2020 Men's Team Event Gold medal winners - China
Fan Zhendong, Ma Long, Xu Xin

Singles Events

For each of the singles events a maximum of 70 players, with not more than two players from the same NOC, can qualify.

• 32 players are nominated from each NOC who have one qualified team
  
  
• 22 players qualify via continental qualification events (Africa 4, Asia 6, Europe 6, Latin America 4, North America 1 and Oceania 1)
  
  
• 2-8 players can qualify from the Final World Singles Qualifying Tournament
  
  
• 1-13 players can qualify from the ITTF World Ranking list
  
  
• 1 player can be by invitation of the IOC/ANOC/ITTF
  
  
• 2 players are guaranteed for the host nation
  
  

2020 Women's Singles Gold Medal winner - Chen Meng

Mixed Doubles Event

For the mixed doubles events, 16 teams qualify for the Olympic Games as follows:

• Six continental teams - one each from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America and Oceania
  
  
• One host nation team is guaranteed
  
  
• Four teams from the World Tour Grand Finals 2019 with a maximum of one pair per NOC
  
  
• Five teams from the World Tour 2020 with a maximum of one pair per NOC

Each NOC is restricted to one pair - with the athletes being part of the team quota if their NOC has qualified a team of that gender.

The format for the Olympic Games table tennis events are as follows...

Team Events

In the team events there are 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.

Singles Events

The singles events follow the traditional knockout format and all matches are the best of seven games.

The top 16 seeded players automatically advance to the third round, whilst the players seeded 17-32 start in the second round.

All other players start in the preliminary or first round to earn the right to compete against the top 32 players.

2020 Olympic Games Men's Singles Gold Medal winner - Ma Long