Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent's court. The object of the game is to manoeuvre the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. The player who is unable to return the ball validly will not gain a point, while the opposite player will.
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.
The US Open Tennis Championships, commonly called the US Open, is a hardcourt tennis tournament held annually in Queens, New York. Since 1987, the US Open has been chronologically the fourth and final Grand Slam tournament of the year. The other three, in chronological order, are the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon. The US Open starts on the last Monday of August and continues for two weeks, with the middle weekend coinciding with the US Labor Day holiday. The tournament is one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, originally known as the U.S. National Championship, for which men's singles and men's doubles were first played in August 1881. It is the only Grand Slam that was not affected by cancellation due to World War I and World War II, nor interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The Hopman Cup is an international tennis tournament that plays mixed-gender teams on a country-by-country basis. It was held in Perth, Western Australia each year from 1989 to 2019, played on indoor hardcourt, before being replaced on the calendar in 2020 by the now defunct ATP Cup. The tournament was played in an eight-team format, with the exception for the years 1990-1995, with twelve teams competing. It returned in July 2023 in Nice, France, played on outdoor clay, with six teams invited to participate.
Mouma Das is an Indian table tennis player. Born and brought up in Kolkata, West Bengal, she has represented India in international events since the early 2000s. Das has won multiple medals at the Commonwealth Games including a gold in the Women's Team Competition in 2018. She was awarded the Arjuna Award, India's second highest sporting honour in 2013 for her contributions to the sport.
China was the host nation of the 2008 Summer Olympics. China was represented by the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC), and the team of selected athletes were officially known as Team China.
Feng Tianwei is a retired Singaporean table tennis player. Born in Harbin, China, she permanently moved to Singapore at the age of 20 under the former Foreign Sports Talent Scheme in March 2007 and commenced her international career in competitive table tennis the following month.
Gao Ning is a retired Chinese-born Singaporean table tennis player. He is currently appointed as the Singapore Table Tennis National Coach for men. He is considered Singapore's best male player with a world ranking of 34 as of August 2016. He was first in men's singles at the 2007 Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships. In 2018, Gao won the men's singles as well as the mixed doubles at the Commonwealth Games along with Yu Mengyu.
Ma Long is a Chinese professional table tennis player who is currently ranked number 3 in Men’s Singles by the ITTF and the reigning Olympic singles champion. Widely regarded as the greatest table tennis player of all time, he is the first and only male player to complete a career Double Grand Slam as the Olympic gold medalist in men's singles in 2016 and 2020. He held the ranking of number 1 for a total of 64 months, the most by any male in the history of table tennis. He is also champion in World Championships in men's singles in 2015, 2017 and 2019. His records led the International Table Tennis Federation to nickname him as "The Dictator" and "The Dragon". Since 2014, he has been the captain of the Chinese national table tennis men's team.
John Alfred Leach MBE was a British table tennis player, coach, and author. He began competing at a relatively old age, 17, before serving in World War II. During the war, he greatly elevated his game and, in 1946, achieved a world ranking. In 1949, Leach became Great Britain's second World Champion singles player. After winning the title, he achieved widespread fame within the United Kingdom, appearing on television and writing for News of the World. Two years later, Leach added a second singles title. In 1953, he was part of the team that won Great Britain's first, and as of 2014 only, team World Championship. He also won 13 bronze and silver World championship medals between 1947 and 1955. As of 2014, Leach is just one of 11 players from any country to win two singles championships.
The People's Republic of China competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, the United Kingdom, between 27 July and 12 August 2012. This was the nation's ninth appearance at the Summer Olympics since its debut in 1952. A total of 396 Chinese athletes, 171 men and 225 women, were selected by the Chinese Olympic Committee to compete in 23 sports. For the fourth time in its Olympic history, China was represented by more female than male athletes.
Table tennis at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro took place from 6 to 17 August 2016 at the third pavilion of Riocentro. Around 172 table tennis players competed in both the singles and team events. Table tennis had appeared at the Summer Olympics on seven previous occasions beginning with the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. In addition to men's and women's singles, the team events were staged for the third time since replacing doubles events at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Xu Xin is a Chinese professional table tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 103 as of May 2023 for men's singles by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). He first reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 1 in January 2013.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran is an Indian table tennis player, who is the highest ranked Indian, currently ranked at 39 in the world as of November 2022. He was a member of the Indian team that won back to back gold medals in 2018 & 2022 Commonwealth Games.
The men's team table tennis event was part of the table tennis programme at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The event took place from 1 August to 6 August 2021 at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
The women's team table tennis event was part of the table tennis programme at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The event took place from 1 August to 5 August 2021 at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
Thailand competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics from 24 August to 5 September 2021. This was the country's tenth appearance at the Paralympic Games.
The men's team in table tennis at the 2023 Asian Table Tennis Championships was held at Yongpyong Dome from 3 to 6 September 2023.
The women's team in table tennis at the 2023 Asian Table Tennis Championships was held at Yongpyong Dome from 3 to 5 September 2023.
