Wang Chuqin spearheads China in Olympic table tennis journey

BEIJING - China has dropped reigning Olympic champion Ma Long for the Paris Games men's singles action, naming the world's top two, Wang Chuqin and Fan Zhendong, as the country's representatives in the event.

It was announced on Tuesday as the Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA) released an uncompleted Olympic roster for Paris 2024, which also states that top-ranked Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha will be the sole pair representing China to compete in the Olympic mixed doubles event.

According to the Games rules, Wang Chuqin, Fan Zhendong, and Sun Yingsha are automatically listed in the team events.

Earlier on Tuesday morning, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) released the latest world rankings of mixed doubles, which has allocated the last coveted spots for the event at the upcoming Olympics.

Seven pairs have clinched their tickets to Paris, including world No. 1 Wang/Sun, No. 2 Lim Jong-hoon/Shin Yu-bin of South Korea and No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto/Hina Hayata of Japan.

The other pairs who secured their spots with the latest rankings are Chinese Taipei's Lin Yun-Ju/Chen Szu-Yu, Romania's Ovidiu Ionescu/Bernadette Szocs, and Hungary's Nandor Ecseki/Dora Madarasz. France, as the host country, took the last quota and will be represented by Alexis Lebrun and Yuan Jianan in front of home crowd.

The rest of the competitors are continental champions as well as winners from the world mixed doubles qualification held in Havirov, Czech Republic last April.