Olympic Table Tennis In Rio - Player's to watch out for

The Olympic Table Tennis competition in Rio kicks off next week with China expected to make a clean sweep of medals, particularly Gold.

MEN'S

Germany's Timo Boll is always a dangerous opponent. He is shortlisted to be the flag bearer for the German Olympic team.
Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov a former bronze medalist in men's singles London 2012 can beat anyone on his day.

Kanak Jha is America’s rising table tennis star, A Rio Olympics medal hope in Men's Singles maybe but I wouldn't bet on it.

Japan's Jun Mizutani can beat anyone on his day but needs a decent draw. He struggle's against Zhang Jike and Ma Long but to be honest who doesn't.

Great Britain will have Paul Drinkhall and rising star Liam Pitchford. Liam has beaten some of the worlds greatest players in the last year.

Vladimir Samsonov from Belarus is a veteran of Olympic TT. He has been in quarter finals many times but has not got that elusive bronze.

China's Ma Long and Zhang Jike are the two KINGS of Ping Pong in China. It's hard to look past them.

The Team Event is going to be China in both Men's and Women's unless a major surprise awaits them.

Women's

Number 1 player in the World Liu Shiwen has been left out of the singles in a surprising move by the Chinese manager. She was not allowed to play singles in London either...hmmmm China will certainly win the Team event in Women's singles with Li Xiaoxia and Ding Ning. Shiwen  can only play in the team event.


Germany, North Korea, Japan and South Korea are expected to put up the hardest fights for medals at the Riocentro venue, where the matches will run throughout the Games.


The youngest player to take the stage will be 15-year-old Adrian Diaz, who will be Puerto Rico's first Olympic table tennis player, while the oldest is 54-year-old Chinese-born Spanish player He Zhiwen

​Join me for commentary on RTE Television from next Friday.

​JB​