WANG Chuqin and SUN Yingsha are the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Mixed Doubles Gold Medal Winners. The top seeds from China are the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Mixed Doubles gold medalists as WANG and SUN come out on top 4-2 (11-6 7-11 11-8 11-5 7-11 11-8) in an epic battle with RI Jong Sik and KIM Kum Yong. Korea Republic’s LIM Jonghoon and SHIN Yubin have secured the bronze medal after a dominant 4-0 victory over WONG Chun Ting and DOO Hoi Kem (HKG). The Korea Republic pair displayed exceptional form throughout the match winning 11-5 11-7 11-7 and 14-12 to claim the final podium spot. International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas BACH was among the distinguished guests in attendance for the Mixed Doubles gold medal match happening in South Paris Arena. Joined by ITTF President Petra SÖRLING and IOC Member RYU Seungmin President BACH witnessed the first gold medal awarded in table tennis at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The Olympic record medalist Dimitrij OVTCHAROV reached the round of the last 16 in Paris after his well-deserved 4-1 victory in the second-round match against Brazilian Vitor ISHIY. Now faces a duel for the quarterfinals against France’s 17-year-old superstar Felix LEBRUN. Meanwhile European runner-up Nina MITTELHAM is also fighting against North Korean Pyon Song GYONG for a place in the round of 16. Dimitrij OVTCHAROV after a 4-0 opening victory over Mexican Marcos MADRID put on another impressive performance in his second match against Vitor ISHIY winning confidently in five sets. The Brazilian’s set win after a 3-0 lead by the former world number one was however an avoidable blemish. In the fourth set OVTCHAROV after leading 10-6 and 12-11 missed five match points in a row before refocusing and converting his sixth match point in the fifth set for a secure 11-4 11-8 11-9 11-13 and 11-3 victory over the world number 86. “Vitor ISHIY is an unpleasant opponent who like Hugo Calderano plays with very high risk. When he hits his best shots he is strong. I sometimes caught his first shot but he then plays a strong second and third shot. Losing the fourth set after leading 10-6 hurt. That doesn’t happen to me often. But I can’t really blame myself. My shots were solid and he played his best table tennis with his back to the wall right before being knocked out. During the break I told myself come on you’re leading 3-1 and in the fifth set I tried to keep the intensity high from the first rally. That worked well and I quickly took the edge off him in the fifth set. In the end it was a solid game that I deservedly won ” said OVTCHAROV In the round of 16 Ovtcharov now faces the 17-year-old local hero Felix LeBrun. France’s world number four brings the South Paris Arena 4 with its 6 400 spectators to a roar with each of his performances creating the atmosphere of a football stadium. Dimitrij OVTCHAROV admits: “The next game will be exciting. After seeing the draw I had the possible duel with Felix in mind from the beginning. Now the level will of course be completely different. He is the world number four behind three Chinese players which speaks for itself. My respect for the development he has made is immense. I’ve been around for a long time and the Olympics are always something special. But here in France against Felix the hall will be rocking like I’ve never experienced before. Maybe I need to approach it like Novak DJOKOVIC who often draws energy from knowing the crowd is against him.” Bernadette SZOCS takes the first win on Day 4 overcoming Ukraine’s Margaryta PESOTSKA in five games (14-12 11-5 12-10 14-12 11-4). Next up for the Romanian is her doubles partner Sofia POLCANOVA in the Women’s Singles round of 16. 11th seed Nina MITTELHAM has been eliminated from the Women’s Singles. The German was shown an early exit by Pyon Song GYONG with the World No.168 winning in a full distance marathon (6-11 9-11 11-9 11-8 11-8 7-11 11-7). The match had plenty of drama with MITTELHAM requiring a medical timeout at one point early in the match but was quick to regroup and fight on. But PYON’S cool as a cucumber persona kept her shotmaking consistent until the last point. In all PRK took 66 points to Germany’s 65 showing just how narrow the margins are between victory and defeat here in Paris. Next up for PYON in the round of 16 is a matchup with Adriana DIAZ. Natalia BAJOR secured her first ever win over Fu YU. It was a marathon match with BAJOR crossing the finish line 4-3 (11-7 11-8 15-17 4-11 7-11 12-10 11-8). On winning the match BAJOR dropped the floor pumping her fist in celebration. Next stop a first-time showdown with Cheng I-CHING.

The Paris 2024 Olympics Mixed Doubles gold medal match is set featuring a clash between China’s World No.1 pair and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s surprise duo. The Mixed Doubles gold medal match is scheduled for 14:30. KIM Kum Yong and RI Jong Sik of PRK secured their spot in the gold medal match with a hard-fought victory. They edged out Hong Kong China’s WONG Chun Ting and DOO Hoi Kem 4-3 (11-3 10-12 3-11 11-9 11-9 9-11 11-6) in a tense semifinal. The PRK duo’s path to Paris began with a tight 4-3 win in the World Mixed Doubles Olympic Qualification Event final on 11 April 2024 — their first international outing as a team. Their Paris 2024 campaign kicked off with a major upset taking down 2nd seed Tomokazu HARIMOTO and Hina HAYATA of Japan in the opening round. Now they’ve secured PRK’s fifth Olympic table tennis medal and the first for a male PRK athlete. China’s WANG Chuqin and SUN Yingsha advanced to the final by defeating Korea Republic’s 3rd seed LIM Jonghoon and SHIN Yubin 4-2 (6-11 11-7 9-11 11-5 11-7 11-9). The Chinese pair enter as favourites with two ITTF World Championship crowns and four WTT Grand Smash titles to their name. They aim to claim the only gold that eluded China in Tokyo 2020.  Korea Republic and Hong Kong China will compete for bronze at 13:30 rounding out Mixed Doubles’ second Olympic appearance.

Day 3 of the Paris 2024 Olympics table tennis tournament saw some thrilling matches and surprising upsets. Ranked No. 62 Anders LIND of Denmark caused a major upset by defeating World No. 17 Marcos FREITAS of Portugal to secure his place in the Round of 32 with a 4-0 victory (11-9 11-6 11-8 11-4). “I am so happy to win my first match on my Olympic Games debut. I was so nervous before the match but fortunately the nerves disappeared when the match started. Though I am still not sure it is not a dream. I am afraid to hear the alarm clock wake me up. I never thought I would win 4-0 against FREITAS. So proud now ” said LIND. His coach Linus MERNSTEN praised his performance saying “His serve returns were fantastic. It was a perfect performance.” While Spain’s Alvaro ROBLES needed six games to overcome Austria’s Daniel HABESOHN (11-6 14-16 11-9 9-11 11-7 11-9) to advance to the Round of 32 Romania’s Ovidiu IONESCU was eliminated. World No. 68 Croatia’s Andrej GACINA defeated the Romanian ranked at No. 45 with a 4-1 victory (11-8 10-12 11-8 12-10 11-5). In the next round GACINA will face Yun-Ju LIN of Taipei. Fiji’s Vicky WU proved too weak for Liam PITCHFORD of Great Britain losing in straight sets (6-11 3-11 3-11 2-11). Jia Nan YUAN delighted the home crowd in Paris with a smooth start defeating Fatimo BELLO of Nigeria 4-0 (11-1 11-3 11-3 11-5) in their Round of 64 clash. The encounter lasted just 18 minutes three minutes faster than the previous fastest match in the Paris singles matches so far. In the Round of 32 YUAN will meet Mo ZHANG of Canada. In a similar style Nina MITTELHAM of Germany beat Minhyung JEE of Australia (11-7 11-9 11-7 11-8) to become the third German to reach the second round of the Olympic table tennis tournament. The European runner-up from Berlin will now compete for a spot in the Round of 16 just like her national teammates Dang QIU and Dimitrij OVTCHAROV who qualified yesterday and the day before. “I didn’t find her game unpleasant and didn’t have many issues with her spin. That also has to do with me feeling good overall. When my legs are working I play well against material players. When I was small around ten or twelve years old I played against anti-spin and long pips every day often against older players. You learn best through matches ” said MITTELHAM. “My nervousness was actually gone after the first two balls. It came back a bit at the end when it was time to close out the match. I played well and moved well. I hope it continues like this.” MITTELHAM acknowledges the challenge ahead: “I don’t know her. Together with my coach Tamy (Tamara BOROS) I watched her match against Doo Hoi KEM on the bus yesterday. We will analyze it thoroughly later. It will be a tough match. The North Koreans play without seeding but are incredibly good. You saw that in the mixed doubles where another North Korean reached the semifinals. You can’t underestimate them. I’m looking forward to the match. I have nothing to lose.” Poland’s Natalia BAJOR moved into the Round of 32 with a 4-3 victory (11-8 3-11 8-11 11-7 12-10 5-11 11-6) over Suthasini SAWETTABUT. Next up for BAJOR is a battle against Fu YU of Portugal. The Team Poland member will enter that match as the underdog with a 0:2 record against her opponent. However with their last matchup dating back to 2018 there could be plenty of surprises in store from BAJOR. The duel between Swede Linda BERGSTROM ranked No. 34 and Poland’s Katarzyna WEGRZYN ranked No. 134 concluded in favor of the lower-ranked player after five games (11-7 9-11 14-12 11-9 11-6).

Although known to be extremely polite and well-mannered Dang QIU did not give any birthday gifts to the Portuguese player Tiago APOLONIA on his 38th birthday. On the second day of play in the Round of 64 Dang QIU lost the first game 2:11 to the 2015 European Championship bronze medalist after a nervous start but then significantly improved his performance winning the next four games deservedly with 11-3 11-2 11-6 12-10. With this world-class performance Germany’s most consistent player of the last two years improved his international record against APOLONIA to 7:0. He had only lost to APOLONIA twice in the Bundesliga. Olympic debutant Dang QIU celebrated his victory with a raised fist and expressed great satisfaction with his first singles match. He quickly overcame the poor start: “2-11 was not an optimal Olympic start but APOLONIA played well too. I knew he would come out fighting here. I had to raise my level extremely and played great so I handled the 2-11 pretty well.” Dang QIU had already learned from a prominent source that initial tension and nervousness need to be overcome at the Olympics: “Dima OVTCHAROV told me: Eventually you shake off the nervousness. Once I’m moving the engine hopefully runs and then only the gameplay needs to work. For me that’s the most important thing: When the gameplay works I have a lot of confidence in my game and then opponents need to play at a high level to beat me. This certainty has given me a lot of confidence over the past few years and I hope it will be the same at the Olympics.” Now QIU will play Kazakh Kirill GERASSIMENKO today at 8 PM. The fantastic but extremely loud atmosphere in the hall created by the parallel match of Frenchman Alexis LEBRUN was taken in stride by Dang QIU. It only partially influenced his game: “You couldn’t hear the ball hit anymore. You couldn’t hear anything. But somehow that’s also awesome I have to say. That’s just the Olympic feeling and it’s fun. Especially when you win it’s fun. The LEBRUN brothers have worked just as hard for this and deserve every victory lap they can take.” It was a good day for the LEBRUN brothers in Paris. Alexis LEBRUN raced into the round of 32 of the Men’s Singles with a speedy 4-0 (11-6 11-5 11-6 11-6) win over Santiago LORENZO. Alexis follows his brother Felix into the round of 32; he clocked his win in at 26 minutes two minutes faster than Felix’s match. It took Felix LEBRUN less than 30 minutes to dispatch Harmeet DESAI securing his place in the round of 32 with a straight games win (11-8 11-8 11-6 11-8). It was a dream Olympic debut for the teenager and World No.5 but he will now be focused on keeping the show going. Next up for Felix LEBRUN is Sweden’s Anton KALLBERG. In women’s singles World No.75 Hana MATELOVA of the Czech Republic beat World No.15 Xiaoxin YANG of Monaco in six games (15-13 11-2 8-11 6-11 11-5 11-7). Next up for MATELOVA is a showdown with Dutch star Britt EERLAND in the round of 32. World No.74 only 17 years old Milosz REDZIMSKI of Poland reached the Round of 32 after his victory over Mohamed EL-BEIALI of Egypt ranked at position No.47.

Table tennis made a thrilling start at Paris 2024 – its 10th Olympic Games. The iconic South Paris Arena 4 was transformed into a cauldron of excitement as players from across the globe battled for Olympic glory. The day marked a historic occasion as Santoo SHRESTHA from Nepal Fathimath ALI from the Maldives and Vladislav URSU from Moldova became the first table tennis players to represent their respective nations at the Olympic Games. On court thrilling matches kept spectators on the edge of their seats. From the exhilarating seven-game battle between Elizabeta SAMARA and Solomiya BRATEYKO to the dominant displays of Britt EERLAND and Truls MOREGARD the opening day of competition delivered non-stop excitement. Defying age NI Xia Lian 61 wrote her name into the Olympic record books as the oldest player to win a table tennis match at the Games defeating Turkey’s Sibel ALTINKAYA. The day concluded with a series of thrilling contests. Georgina POTA staged a remarkable comeback from 3-1 down to defeat Germany’s Xiaona SHAN 4-3 while Quadri ARUNA’S hopes of repeating his Rio 2016 quarterfinals performance were dashed by Eduard IONESCU who completed an astonishing 4-3 upset in his Olympic debut. The 20-year-old Romanian saved a total of 6 match points to defeat the Nigerian (8-11 9-11 6-11 11-8 12-10 11-9 13-11). A particular highlight came in the form of Prithika PAVADE’S triumph over Iranian Neda SHAHSAVARI. The Frenchwoman’s victory ignited the crowd sending the arena into raptures. Her achievement marked a historic moment for French table tennis as she secured the first French table tennis win on home soil at the Paris Olympics. The mixed doubles competition also produced its share of drama. The French pairing of Jia Nan YUAN and Alexis LEBRUN buoyed by the home crowd narrowly missed out on a place in the next round losing a closely contested match. Meanwhile a major upset saw DPR Korea’s Ri Jong SIK and Kim Kum YONG sensationally defeat the second-seeded Japanese pair of Hina HAYATA and Tomokazu HARIMOTO.

On the first day of play at the Olympic Games in Paris the Round of 16 was held in South Paris Arena 4. Three European pairings reached the quarterfinals: the Spanish duo of Alvaro ROBLES and Maria XIAO Sweden’s Kristian KARLSSON and Christina KALLBERG and Romania’s Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS. ROBLES and XIAO defeated Brazil’s Vitor ISHIY and Bruna TAKAHASHI 4-2 (11-9 7-11 7-11 11-8 11-5 11-8). In the next round they will face Hong Kong’s Wong Chun TING and Doo Hoi KEM. IONESCU and SZOCS overcame Nicholas LUM and Minhyung JEE 4-1 (11-5 6-11 14-12 11-4 11-3). They will meet Lim JONGHOON and Shin YUBIN in the Round of 8. KARLSSON and KALLBERG prevailed against Jorge CAMPOS and Daniela FONSECA CARRAZANA 4-1 (6-11 12-10 11-9 11-7 11-9). Their next adversaries will be Korea’s RI Jong Sik and KIM Kum Yong.