The 16 teams for the Olympic mixed doubles table tennis tournament have been decided with the top six teams in the updated International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) world rankings – excluding those who had qualified by other means – completing the field.
China’s world number ones and reigning world champions, Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin, head the names in the Olympic tournament. Compatriots Lin Qaoyuan and Wang Yidi had won a quota place at last year’s Asian Championships but China declined it knowing that their star duo would qualify through the rankings.
Also on Tuesday, the Chinese team announced that Wang and Fan Zhendong would play singles at Paris 2024 with reigning Olympic champion Ma Long missing out.
South Korea’s Lim Jonghoon and Shin Yubin, and Japan’s Hina Hayata and Tomokazu Harimoto – the world number two and three pairs – were also long assured a top-six ranking, as were Chinese Taipei’s Chen Szu-Yu and Lin Yun-Ju.
The places below were less clear-cut with those teams taking part in last month’s World Qualification Tournament in Havirov, Czechia. The four teams to come through that two-day event were North Korea’s Kim Kum Yong and Ri Jong Sik, Doo Hoi Kem and Wong Chun Ting of Hong Kong, Spain’s world number six pairing of Alvaro Robles and Maria Xiao, and Sweden’s Christina Kallberg and Kristian Karlsson.
Two of the teams that just missed out in Havirov – Ovidiu Ionescu and Bernadette Szocs of Romania, and Hungary’s Nandor Ecseki and Dora Madarasz – were confirmed on Tuesday by their respective positions of eighth and 11th in the world rankings.
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Luxembourg’s Ni Xialian and Luka Mladenovic, ranked 16th in the world, missed out having lost out to Hong Kong’s Doo and Wong in one of the four finals in Havirov. Ni, who will be 61 when Paris 2024 gets underway, is ranked 42 in singles which should be enough to secure her a place at her sixth Olympic Games.
France, who will be represented by Alexis Lebrun and Jianan Yuan, received an automatic spot as hosts. The other five places went to the winners of last year’s European Games, African Championships and Oceania Championships, plus the top two at the 2023 Pan American Games.
Mixed Doubles Pairs Qualified for the Olympic Games Paris 2024
Australia – Minhyung Jee and Nicholas Lum (Oceania Championship winners)
Brazil – Victor Ishiy and Bruna Takahashi (Pan American Games runners-up)
China – Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin (Ranking Qualification)
Chinese Taipei – Chen Szu-Yu and Lin Yun-Ju (Ranking Qualification)
Cuba – Jorge Campos and Daniela Fonseca Carrazana (Pan American Games winners)
Democratic People’s Republic Of Korea – Kim Kum Yong and Ri Jong Sik (World Qualification Tournament)
Egypt – Omar Assar and Dina Meshref (African Championship winners)
France – Alexis Lebrun and Jianan Yuan (Host Quota)
Germany – Nina Mittelham and Dang Qiu (European Games winners)
Hong Kong, China – Doo Hoi Kem and Wong Chun Ting (World Qualification Tournament)
Hungary – Nandor Ecseki and Dora Madarasz (Ranking Qualification)
Japan – Hina Hayata and Tomokazu Harimoto (Ranking Qualification)
Korea Republic – Lim Jonghoon and Shin Yubin (Ranking Qualification)
Romania – Ovidiu Ionescu and Bernadette Szocs (Ranking Qualification)
Spain – Alvaro Robles and Maria Xiao (World Qualification Tournament)
Sweden – Christina Kallberg and Kristian Karlsson (World Qualification Tournament)