Table tennis is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of two, players take alternating turns returning a light, hollow ball over the table's net onto the opposing half of the court using small rackets until they fail to do so, which results in a point for the opponent. Play is fast, requiring quick reaction and constant attention, and is characterized by an emphasis on spin relative to other ball sports, which can heavily affect the ball's trajectory.
Timo Boll is a German professional table tennis player, who currently plays for Borussia Düsseldorf. He is ranked second in the German Table Tennis National League, and thirty-fifth in the ITTF world rankings as of April 2023. Boll ranks among the best German table tennis players of all time, having ranked world No. 1 in 2003, 2011 and in March 2018.
The World Table Tennis Championships are table tennis competitions sanctioned by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The World Championships have been held since 1926, biennially since 1957. Five individual events, which include men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's double and mixed doubles, are currently held in odd numbered years. The World Team Table Tennis Championships, which include men's team and women's team events, were first their own competition in 2000. The Team Championships are held in even numbered years.
Natalia Dorota Partyka is a Polish table tennis player. Born without a right hand and forearm, she participates in competitions for able-bodied athletes as well as in competitions for athletes with disabilities. Partyka reached the last 32 of the London 2012 Olympic women's table tennis.
Chuang Chih-yuan is a Taiwanese table tennis player. He won the ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals in 2002 and doubles title at the 2013 World Table Tennis Championships. He participated in the Summer Olympics five times, making the most appearances at Olympic Games among Taiwanese athletes.
Dimitrij Ovtcharov or Dmytro Ovtcharov is a Ukrainian-born German table tennis player. His father Mikhail, a Soviet table tennis champion in 1982, moved his family to Germany shortly after Dimitrij was born.
The ITTF World Youth Championships is an annual table tennis competition for juniors under 19 and under 15. From 2003 to 2019, the World Junior Table Tennis Championships was held for juniors under 18. The ITTF changed the U18 age group into U19 in 2020, and implemented the new World Youth Championships for U19 and U15 in 2021. The World Youth Championships is currently composed of two team events and five individual events in each of the U19 and U15 age groups.
The ITTF–ATTU Asian Cup is an annual table tennis competition held by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and the Asian Table Tennis Union (ATTU). The first edition was held in 1983. The competition features men's and women's singles events, with 16 players qualifying to take part in each event, subject to a maximum of two players per association.
The 1999 World Table Tennis Championships were held in Eindhoven from August 2 to August 8, 1999. The Championships were originally scheduled from April 26 to May 9 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia but were postponed after the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War in March 1999. Individual events were relocated to Eindhoven and team competitions were moved to Kuala Lumpur in 2000.
The 2000 World Team Table Tennis Championships were held in Kuala Lumpur from February 19 to February 26, 2000. The Team Championships were originally part of the 1999 World Championships program scheduled to be held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia but were postponed after the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War in March 1999.
Table tennis at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo featured 173 table tennis players. Table tennis had appeared at the Summer Olympics on eight previous occasions beginning with the 1988 Summer Olympics.
Miu Hirano is a Japanese table tennis player. She won Women's World Cup in 2016 as the youngest ever winner. She won the women's singles at the 2017 Asian Table Tennis Championships by sweeping away three top Chinese players. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in women's team event.
Fan Zhendong is a Chinese professional table tennis player. After joining the Chinese National Table Tennis Team in 2012 as the youngest member of the team, he went on to become the youngest ITTF World Tour Champion and the youngest World Table Tennis Champion. In April 2018, he achieved the top spot in the world rankings after holding position No. 2 for 29 consecutive months, starting from November 2015.
Hina Hayata is a Japanese international table tennis player. She is the most successful player on the ITTF Challenge Series since its inception in 2017. Owing to her stature, she is able to generate more spin on both sides than most female players. She is coached by Daisuka Ishida.
This article details the qualifying phase for table tennis at the 2020 Summer Olympics. The competition at these Games will comprise a total of 172 table tennis players coming from their respective NOCs; each may enter up to six athletes, two male and two female athletes in singles events, up to one men's and one women's team in team events, and up to one pair in mixed doubles.
Patrick Franziska is a German table tennis player. He is currently sponsored by Butterfly and plays with FC Saarbrücken-TT in the German Bundesliga (TTBL).
The 2024 World Team Table Tennis Championships are scheduled to be held in Busan, South Korea from 16 to 25 February 2024. Quarterfinalists of the 2024 World Championships will be qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Poland competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, from 24 August to 5 September 2021.
The 20th Asian Table Tennis Championships were held in Macau, China, from 23 February to 1 March 2012. It was originally organised and hosted by the Lebanese Table Tennis Federation for 12 to 18 September 2011 with the prospective location of Jamhour Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon. However, due to security deterioration in the region, the Lebanon TTF informed Asian Table Tennis Union(ATTU) that they decided to cancel hosting the 20th ATTC.
The 2021 World Table Tennis Championships was held in Houston, United States from 23 to 29 November. It was the 56th edition of the championships and the first time the competition was held in the United States. Houston became the host by beating Agadir, Morocco in 2019.
Timo Boll (GER)
Mattias Falck (SWE)
Marcos Freitas (POR)
Margaryta Pesotska (UKR)
Elizabeta Samara (ROU)
Lev Katsman (RUS)
Jakub Dyjas (POL)
Cédric Nuytinck (BEL)
Ádám Szudi (HUN)
Stéphanie Loeuillette (FRA)
Ľubomír Pištej (SVK)