Indian men’s and women’s table tennis teams
both created history by qualifying for the Summer Olympics for the first time
by securing the national spots for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Last Monday (4 March), the International Table
Tennis Federation (ITTF) officially confirmed Indian men’s and women’s table
tennis teams qualifications for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
At the Paris 2024, both men’s and women’s table
team events will run with 16 teams in each event. According to the
qualification rules for the Paris Olympics, if the highest-ranked teams fail to
qualify directly through any of the qualifying tournaments, the teams can book
the quotas through the top rankings.
Latest world table tennis team rankings
In the latest men’s world table tennis team
rankings (March 2024), the Indian men’s table tennis team is in 15th place.
Meanwhile, the Indian women’s table tennis team is in the 13th place in
the women’s world table tennis team rankings.
Last February, both the men’s and women’s
Indian teams participated in the World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals
2024 in Busan (South Korea). Both teams could directly secure their Paris 2024
Olympics quota if they reached the Quarterfinals at the World Team Table
Tennis Championships Finals 2024.
After securing the playoffs spot from the Group
Stage, the Indian men’s team also advanced to the Round of 16 but suffered a
defeat against the hosts South Korea and failed to qualify for the
Quarterfinals.
In the meantime, the Indian women’s team
similarly earned the playoffs spot and later qualified to the Round of 16, but
Chinese Taipei defeated them in the Round of 16.
However, the Indian men’s and women’s table
tennis teams still created history by securing the Paris Olympics quotas
through the world rankings.
Table Tennis in the Summer Olympics
Although table tennis was first introduced in
the Summer Olympics in Seoul 1988, both the men’s and women’s team events were
first organized in the Summer Olympics in Beijing 2008.
However, the Paris 2024 Olympics will be
the first time in the Summer Olympics history that the Indian men’s or women’s
table tennis team will participate.
In the meantime, India has never won a medal in
any table tennis event in the Summer Olympics history.
As India has secured the men’s and women’s teams’ quotas for the Paris 2024 Olympics, the nation has also confirmed two quotas each in men’s and women’s singles events for the upcoming Summer Olympics. The National Olympic Committees (NOC) have the exclusive authority to make the final decision on the national representatives for Paris 2024.
