Mixed doubles or mixed pairs is a form of mixed-sex sports that consists of teams of one man and one woman. This variation of competition is prominent in curling and racket sports, such as tennis, table tennis, and badminton (where it is known as doubles), as well as gymnastics, figure skating, and card games such as contract bridge (where it is known as pairs).
Mixed doubles has a long history in tennis. The social benefits of mixed tennis were recognised in England in the late 19th century, with it serving as a social outing for married couples and a way for single men and women to build a relationship. [1] This variant appeared at the United States National Championships in 1892, [2] followed by the French Championships in 1902, Wimbledon in 1913, and the Australian Open in 1922. It made an early appearance at the second Summer Olympics in 1900 though it was dropped from the programme in the 1920s and did not reappear until the 2012 London Olympics. [3]
The Hopman Cup, held from 1989 to 2019, featured a mixed doubles match as the third rubber of each tie. The United Cup, founded in 2022, became the first mixed-gender team event to offer both ATP and WTA rankings points to its players, with a maximum 500 points for the winners. [4]
Mixed doubles has featured at the World Table Tennis Championships since its first edition in 1926, although this did not gain Olympic status until 2020. [5] [6]
The 1899 All England Open Badminton Championships saw the first major mixed doubles badminton event. [7] A mixed doubles tournament was included at the Commonwealth Games since the sport was introduced in 1966. The European Mixed Team Badminton Championships, first held in 1972, includes mixed doubles matches. The World Badminton Championships has a mixed doubles tournament since its inception in 1977. The Sudirman Cup, held since 1989, is a team tournament that features men's, women's and mixed doubles matches in every tie. Badminton at the Summer Olympics features a mixed doubles badminton event since 1996. [8]
The concept was a late addition to the sport of curling, with the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship being first held in 2008 and the 2018 Winter Olympics being the first time it was given Olympic status. [9] [10]
Although Gaelic handball is usually played as single-sex (singles or doubles), mixed doubles competitions take place at juvenile and schools level. [11] [12]
Pair figure skating shares a history with paired dancing. The form of skating made its debut at both the Winter Olympics and World Figure Skating Championships in 1908. [13] The World Bridge Championships debuted a mixed pairs competition at its second edition in 1966. [14] Pair Go is played by two pairs, with each team consisting of a male and a female. It was popularized by the Japan Pair Go Association as a means of increasing female participation in the game.
A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs.
World Junior Championships may refer to:
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.
2011 World Championships may refer to:
Liu Shiwen is a Chinese table tennis player. She is a five-time World Cup champion, one-time World Champion, three-time ITTF World Tour Grand Finals champion and four-time Asian Cup champion. She is known to be one of the fastest players in the world.
Christopher Thomas Adcock is a retired English badminton player. Adcock is currently sponsored by Yonex and YC Sports and plays for the University of Nottingham-based NBL team. He entered the National team in 2006, and later won the boys' doubles and mixed team titles at the 2007 European Junior Championships. He was a World Championships medalists winning a silver in 2011 with Imogen Bankier and a bronze in 2017 with Gabby Adcock. Together with Gabby, he also won a silver medal at the 2007 World Junior Championships, and then claimed the gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and 2018; and at the European Championships in 2017 and 2018.
Koki Niwa is a Japanese male table tennis player. He is the gold medalist at the 2010 Youth Olympics and he won the World Junior Table Tennis Championships in 2010 (doubles) and 2011 (singles).
2020 in sports describes the year's events in world sport. Many sporting events around the world have been postponed or cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, which eventually took place in 2021.
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.
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.
Manika Batra is an Indian table tennis player. She is the top female table tennis player in India and she is currently world number 39 in ITTF as of May 2023. She is one of the female players who use long pimple rubber. She was awarded the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna in 2020.
Canada competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, from February 9 to 25, 2018. It was the nation's 23rd appearance at the Winter Olympics, having competed at every Games since their inception in 1924. Canada competed in all sports disciplines, except Nordic combined. The chef de mission was Isabelle Charest, who was appointed in February 2017.
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.
Mixed-sex sports are individual and team sports whose participants are not of a single sex. In organised sports settings, rules usually dictate an equal number of people of each sex in a team. Usually, the main purpose of these rules are to account for physiological sex differences. Mixed-sex sports in informal settings are typically groups of neighbours, friends or family playing without regard to the sex of the participants. Mixed-sex play is also common in children's sports as before puberty and adolescence, sport-relevant sex differences affect performance far less.
Wang Chuqin is a Chinese professional table tennis player. He is the top left-handed player in the ITTF world ranking. Most recently, he was the silver medallist in men's singles, gold medallist in mixed doubles with Sun Yingsha and gold medallist in men's doubles with Fan Zhendong for the 2023 World Table Tennis Championships in Durban. He won the men's singles title at the WTT Cup Finals in 2021 and WTT Champions Xinxiang in 2022. He was crowned the men's singles title at WTT Champions Macao twice. Wang also won gold along with teammates Fan Zhendong, Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan and Ma Long at the 2022 World Team Table Tennis Championships. He won gold in the men's singles and mixed team events at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Hong Kong competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, marking the territory's seventeenth appearance at the Summer Olympics since its debut as a British colony in 1952. More medals were won at the 2020 Summer Olympics by athletes representing Hong Kong than ever before, and Hong Kong also won its first gold medal since the handover back to China.
China competed at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland from 9 to 22 January 2020.
The Czech Republic competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, from 4 to 20 February 2022.
Including the parasport events, there was a nominal total of 192 quota places available for table tennis at the 2022 Commonwealth Games; 96 each for men and women.
