The seeding for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Table Tennis event has been determined after the announcement of the ITTF August 2016 World Rankings, with reigning World Champions MA Long (CHN) and DING Ning (CHN) leading the seeding in the Men’s and Women’s Singles event respectively.
World number one MA, who has swept all major Men’s Singles titles in 2015, has his eyes set on Gold on his Olympic Singles debut in Rio, to become the fifth male table tennis Grand Slam Champion in history.
The road to Gold will not be a smooth one for MA, as he will have to fend off tough challengers, including teammate, Current Olympic Champion ZHANG Jike who will be the second seed in Rio. The world number four will be aiming for a consecutive Olympic Gold to complete his second table tennis Grand Slam.
Hot contenders for the Olympic medals, Germany’s Dimitrij OVTCHAROV, Japan’s Jun MIZUTANI and Chinese Taipei’s CHUANG Chih-Yuan filled up the remaining spots in the top five seeding, and will be looking to topple the Chinese’s dominance in Rio.
In the Women’s Singles, World number two DING will look to avenge her loss in the Women’s Singles Final at the London 2012 Olympic Games against compatriot LI Xiaoxia, to earn her first Grand Slam title.
2010 World Team Champion and world number four FENG Tianwei (SIN) takes the one place ahead of the third seeded reigning Olympic Champion LI Xiaoxia (CHN).
Japan’s Kasumi ISHIKAWA and Ai FUKUHARA occupies the fourth and sixth seeding places respectively, while Germany’s HAN Ying taking the fifth seed on her first quest for an Olympic medal.
All 70 Men’s and 70 Women’s Olympians will be drawn at the Draw Ceremony set to take place on 3 August, 12:00 local time at Riocentro Pavilion 4.
A press conference will be held immediately after the draw at 14:00, with the following players attending:
DING Ning (CHN)-2011, 2015 World Champion, 2012 Olympic Women’s Singles Silver
ZHANG Jike (CHN) -2011, 2013 World Champion, 2011, 2014 Men’s World Cup Champion, Reigning Olympic Champion
Ai FUKUHARA (JPN) -2012 Olympic Women’s Singles Quarterfinalist, Team Silver
Vladimir SAMSONOV (BLR) -2000 Olympic Men’s Singles Quarterfinalist, 1997 World Championships Silver
Hugo CALDERANO (BRA) -2014 Youth Olympic Games Bronze medallist, 2015 Pan American Champion, 2016 Latin American Champion & Latin American Cup Champion
The Rio 2016 Olympic Table Tennis event will be held from 06 – 17 August 2016 at the Riocentro Pavilion 3.
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