ion format

1.1
Events
1.1.1 The Table Tennis Olympic competition will consist of four events: men's singles, women's
singles, men's teams and women's teams.

1.2
Singles Events
1.2.1 In each of the men's and the women's singles events there will be a maximum of 86 players, with
not more than three players from the same NOC.
1.2.1.1 If the number of qualified players exceeds 64, preliminary rounds would take place to reduce the
number of players to 64.

1.2.2 Mens singles and womens singles will follow a knockout (single elimination) format. The entries
ranked 1 to 16 will qualify directly to the third round, the entries ranked 17 to 32 to the second
round and the entries ranked 33 to the total number of participants will qualify to the first or
preliminary rounds following the Annex 1 chart and explanations.

1.2.3 All matches shall be the best of seven games.



1.3
Team Events
1.3.1 In both mens and womens teams there will be a maximum of 16 teams entered.

1.3.2 A team match at the Olympic competition is called a contest.

1.3.3 A team consists of three players but a team of two players is allowed to participate in the contest
if the third player is absent due to injury or disqualification (see 4.2.3.3 and 4.2.3.4)
.
If a player is
not able to play a match due to injury he will forfeit the match but he can participate in his
subsequent matches of the contest. If a player is not able to play (due to injury or disqualification
(see 4.2.3.3 and 4.2.3.4)) the team may continue the competition with two players. If the NOC
has planned a P accreditation in case of injury or sickness of one player, this player can
be replaced and the team may continue the next match with 3 players. P accreditation
does NOT apply for replacing disqualified players.

1.3.4 Each contest consists of the best three out of five matches. Each match shall be the best of five
games.

1.3.5 A contest consists of two singles matches followed by a doubles match, followed, if necessary,
by one or two singles matches, until a team wins three matches.

1.3.6 For each contest, a team manager, coach or captain shall appoint the players who will play the
first two singles matches. The third player will play in the doubles match (match number 3) with
either of the two players who played the first two matches, selected by the team manager (coach
or captain) after the second singles match is completed. The remaining matches (if necessary)
will be set in a way to ensure that each player plays a maximum of two matches according to the
following system:
Order Type
ABC team
XYZ team
1
Singles
A
X
2
Singles
B
Y
Captain chooses DBL pair. 5 minutes break
3
Doubles
C + A or B
Z + X or Y
5 minutes break
4
Singles
A or B (non-playing Doubles)
Z
5
Singles
C
X or Y (non playing Doubles) Olympics Commission
Rules 2008 Olympic Games

ITTF Olympic rules

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Release: Version: 12
Date: 13 June 2008





1.3.6.1 Before the start of the match, the team that won the toss shall choose either to be the ABC team
or the XYZ team.
1.3.6.2 After tossing and choosing ABC or XYZ team, the captain shall give out the exact nomination of
players on position A, B, C or X, Y, Z.
1.3.6.3 After the captain hands over the nomination sheet for doubles (once the 2 first singles matches
have been played), the match order of the 4th. and 5th. matches is automatically decided.
1.3.6.4 There shall be a 5-minute break prior to and after the doubles match, considering the possibility
of one player playing two consecutive matches.


1.3.7 The team competition will consist of two stages: First stage (round robin system) and Final stage
(knock-out system).
1.3.7.1 First stage (round robin system). The teams will be divided into four groups of four teams. All
teams of the group shall compete against each other and shall gain 2 team points for a win, 1 for
a loss in a played match and 0 for a loss in an unplayed or unfinished match. The teams will be
ranked according to the number of points gained. If two or more teams are tied with the same
number of the points, the ties will be decided according to the ITTF rules.

1.3.7.2 The order of contests in each group at the first stage (round robin system) will be as follows:

1
st
round
1 v 3 and 2 v 4

2
nd
round
1 v 4 and 2 v 3

3
rd
round
1 v 2 and 3 v 4

1.3.7.3 The two best teams from each group will qualify to the final stage.

1.3.7.4 Final stage (Play-off rounds). The winning teams of each group shall play-off, in a knockout
semi-final format for the Gold and Silver Medals. The second placed teams of each group and
the semi-final contest losers shall play-off for the Bronze medal (see Annex 3).

1.4
Procedure when a team has only 2 players.
1.4.1 A team of two players is allowed to participate in the team matches if the third player of the team
is injured, sick or disqualified (see 4.2.3.3 and 4.2.3.4) and no alternate player is available.


1.4.2 Before the start of the match, the team winning the toss shall choose either to be the ABC team
or the XYZ team and the two teams captains should decide the order of players. The team with
the injured, ill or disqualified player will lose the match/es supposed to be played by this player
automatically by walkover following the established order of matches. The final result of the
contest will be the playing matches scored plus walkover matches scored.

1.5
Procedure when both teams have only 2 players.

1.5.1 The competition format will be as follows:


1.5.2 If both teams have only two players participating in the contest the final score will not reach a
third match point for any of them. The contest shall end when one team has won a majority of the
possible matches and this team will be declared the winner of this contest (2:0 or 2:1).
Order Type
ABC team
XYZ team
1
Singles
A
X
5 minutes break
2
Doubles
AB
XY
5 minutes break
3
Singles
B
Y Olympics Commission
Rules 2008 Olympic Games

ITTF Olympic rules

Page 3 of 8
Release: Version: 12
Date: 13 June 2008

1.6. Replacement of a player in a table tennis Team

1.6.1. In case of injury or sickness of one player competing in the table tennis Olympic team events, he
can be replaced if his NOC has planned a P accreditation for an alternate player on this
competition.

1.6.2. In case of replacement, the accreditation of the player replaced will be cancelled. The player will
not be allowed to continue in the Olympic Village and he will not be able to compete in the
singles events either.

1.6.3. The new player entered replacing a sick or injured player can only activate the new accreditation
and compete in the Team events, once the accreditation of the replaced player is cancelled.



2
Draws
2.1
For singles events
2.1.1 The draw for singles events will take place in a public session, at least two days prior to the first
day of the competition. Proposed date: 11 August 2008.

2.1.2 The top sixteen ranked players will be seeded and drawn directly into the third round of play. The
next sixteen (players ranked 17 to 32 by their World Ranking) will be drawn directly into the
second round of play. The next sixteen players (33 up to 48) will be drawn into the first round of
play. The remaining players (49 up to a maximum of 86 by their World Ranking) will be drawn
into the first and preliminary round of play following the diagram attached as Annex 1.


2.2
For team events
2.2.1 The draw for the round robin stage will take place in a public session, at least one day prior to
the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games. Proposed date: 7 August 2008.

2.2.2 Draw for the round robin stage. For the round robin stage, the highest-ranked team will be placed
in Group A, the 2
nd
highest in Group B, the 3
rd
highest in Group C and the 4
th
highest in Group D.
The teams ranked 5-6 will be drawn to groups C or D. The teams ranked 7-8 will be drawn to
group A or B. The teams ranked 9-10 will be drawn to groups A or B. The teams ranked 11-12
will be drawn to groups C or D. The teams ranked 13-14 will be drawn to groups C or D and,
finally, the teams ranked 15 -16 will be drawn to groups A or B. (see graphic below)



A
B
C
D


1
2

3
4


(7 or 8) (7 or 8)
(5 or 6) (5 or 6)


(9 or 10) (9 or 10) (11 or 12) (11 or 12)


(15 or 16) (15 or 16) (13 or 14) (13 or 14)

2.2.3 The draw for the final rounds will take placed in a public session, the latest two hours after the
last match of the round robin stage is finished. Proposed date and time: 14 August 2008, at
22:00 h.

2.2.4 Draw for the final stage. The winners of groups A and B will be placed in positions 1 and 4, and
the winners of Groups C and D will be drawn in positions 2 and 3. The runners-up will be drawn
for the Bronze medal contests at random (see Annex 3).

3
Ranking lists
3.1
Individual ranking lists
3.1.1 Qualification process. The first ITTF World ranking list published following the 2007 ITTF Pro-tour
Finals to be held in December 2007 will be used to qualify the top 20 players from the World
Ranking.