Both the Singles and Team events are run in a knockout format. Players and teams progress through the draw until the finals, which decide the winners of the gold medals.
In the Team events, each team consists of three players, who play four Singles matches and one Doubles match. Team matches end when one team has won three individual matches in this best-of-five format.
Players’ seedings dictate the round in which they enter the competition. In Singles, the 16 highest ranked players qualify for the third round, players ranked from 17 to 32 qualify for the second round, and all other players qualify for the preliminary or first round. In Team events, a special team rankings list is used to established the seedings.
For a complete set of rules, please refer to the website of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), the governing body for the sport.
Find out more about the men's Singles, men's Team, women's Singles and women's Team competitions at the Olympic Games on the International Olympic Committee website.
