Rio 2016 Olympic Games
#TABLETENNIS
Interesting Stories
Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Table Tennis Event
06-17 August 2016, Riocentro Pavilion 3
Women:
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For the first time ever, there will be 2 Paralympians competing in the Olympic Games.
(Melissa Tapper, AUS and Natalia Partyka, POL)
•
2 female table tennis players, Ian Lariba (PHI) and Liu Jia (AUT) are appointed as the flag
bearer of their country.
•
Caroline Kumahara (BRA): Kumahara used to play futsal until her father bought a table
tennis table and preferred her to play an individual sport.
•
Melissa Tapper (AUS): Tapper will be the first Australian athlete to compete in both the
Olympic and Paralympic Games. Tapper has a brachial plexus injury resulting in Erb's palsy
in her right arm, which means she always has to wear a brace. This affects her serve as she
can’t hold the ball properly.
•
Adrianna Diaz (PUR): Diaz is only 15 and is the first female Puerto Rican table tennis player
to qualify for the Olympic Games. Her countryman and cousin Brian Afanador will also be
competing in Rio. Diaz is a product of the ITTF Hopes program.
•
Suthasini Sawettabut (THA): Sawettabut meditates before her match, and has a younger
sister who is representing Thailand at the junior level. In 2015, she beat top players such as
Feng Tianwei (SIN) and Mima Ito (JPN).
•
Olufunke Oshonaike (NGR): Competing in her 6th Olympic Games, at the age of 40 years
old. Holds the record for most number of appearances for female table tennis player. She
credits her dad as her reason of success.
•
Cheng I-Ching (TPE): Cheng made one of the biggest climb in the World Ranking in July,
when she rose from No. 38 to No. 12. At the 2016 ITTF World Tour Laox Japan Open, she
beat Feng Tianwei (SIN), who is the No. 2 seed in Rio.
•
Ni Xia Lian (LUX): Oldest female player, 53 years old competing in her 4th Olympic Games.
•
Lily Zhang (USA): Zhang created history when she won a bronze medal at the 2014 Youth
Olympic Games, the first ever Olympic medal for the US table tennis. In order to qualify for
Rio, she took a year off from university and spent 3 months in Austria honing her skills.
Zhang is the only player who took part in the Olympic Games (2012) before the Youth
Olympic Games (2014)
•
Heba Alleji (SYR): Alleji is the first ever Syrian table tennis athlete to compete in the
Olympic Games.
•
Sally Yee (FIJ): Yee will be the youngest table tennis player to compete at an Olympic
Games, she will be 15 years and 128 days old when the Olympic Games start officially.
pg. 1
Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Table Tennis Event
06-17 August 2016, Riocentro Pavilion 3
•
Dina Meshref (EGY): Born in a table tennis family, Meshref has won all titles available in
Africa. Rio will be her 2nd appearance at the Olympic Games and her father is the President
of the Egyptian Table Tennis Federation.
•
Natalia Partyka (POL): Rio will be the 3rd time that Partyka will compete in both the Olympic
and Paralympic Games. She first took part in the Paralympic Games in Sydney 2000, when
she was only 11. Partyka was born without a right hand and forearm.
•
Nadeen El-Dawlatly (EGY): Playing in her second Olympic Games, El-Dawlatly will be
joined by her family in Rio, with her father Ahmed Dawlatly as the ITTF Technical Expert,
and elder brother Mohamed Dawlatly as the ITTF Competition Manager and Information
Technology Consultant.
•
Ian Lariba (PHI): First Filipino table tennis player to qualify for the Olympic Games, she has
been appointed the flag bearer for Philippines in Rio.
•
Li Xiaoxia (CHN) will be aiming to win the second title in Rio. She beat teammate Ding Ning
(CHN) in the women’s singles finals at London, while Ding will be aiming to seek revenge
in Rio.
•
Ding Ning: If Ding wins the singles title in Rio, she will be the 5th female player to complete
the Grand Slam.
•
Feng Tianwei (SIN): The 29-year-old Singaporean is competing in her 3rd Olympic Games,
and is aiming to go one step higher in Rio, as she is seeded 2nd for the Women’s Singles.
Feng’s nickname is ‘Lele’, which means joy in English.
•
Kasumi Ishikawa (JPN): In 2012, Ishikawa was placed 4th in the Women’s’ Singles in London
when she was only 19 years old. In 2014, she led the team to 2nd place at the World
Championships, which was a first silver medal for Japan in 31 years.
•
Petrissa Solja (GER): has an older sister who now represents Austria in international
tournaments. This will be Solja’s first participation at the Olympic Games.
•
Chen Szu-Yu (TPE): Chen has persistent back and knee problem which hurts whenever it
rains. This also affects her every morning whenever she wakes up. However, the 23-yearold persevered and is now taking part in her 2nd Olympic Games.
•
Lee Ho Ching (HKG) When younger, she used to play table tennis at the dining table with
her older brother. 15 years on, she now plays with her niece at the dining table instead.
•
Mima Ito (JPN): Holds the Guinness World Record for being the youngest player to win a
doubles event on the ITTF World Tour, when she and her partner Miu Hirano (JPN) were
just 13 years old. Ito also holds the record for the youngest ever singles winner on the
World Tour when she won the German Open at just 14 years of age.
pg. 2
Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Table Tennis Event
06-17 August 2016, Riocentro Pavilion 3
Men:
•
Zhang Jike (CHN): If Zhang wins the Mens’ Singles title in Rio, he will be the 1st male player
to win the Olympic Games Mens’ singles title twice and also twice in a row. Zhang was
named after Brazilian footballer Zico and is a big fan of Cristiano Rolnaldo
•
Ma Long (CHN): If Ma wins in Rio, he will be the 5th male player to complete the Grand Slam.
Ma enjoys collecting action hero figurines.
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Dimitrij Ovtcharov (GER): In 2015, Ovtcharov started to work with 7-time Olympian Jorgen
Persson (SWE) with the aim to break the Chinese dominance at the Rio 2016 Olympic
Games. Ovtcharov was the first male player to qualify for the Rio 2016 and was born in
Ukraine, Ovtcharov moved to Germany following the Chernobyl disaster.
•
Timo Boll (GER): Boll is known for his outstanding sportsmanship during his match at the
2005 World Championships where he acknowledged an edge ball in favour of his
opponent when leading 13-12 in the seventh game. He eventually lost the match but was
awarded the Fair Play award.
•
Chuang Chih-Yuan (TPE): At the 2013 World Championships, Chuang and partner Chen
Chien-An created history by winning the Men’s Doubles, which was Chinese Taipei first
ever gold medal at the World Championships. Chuang claims to be a lazy person, and
doesn’t like to practice often. But he pushes himself really hard as he knows that it is
essential if he wants to win a medal in major games.
•
Quadri Aruna (NGR): Aruna reached the quarterfinals of the Men’s World Cup in 2014,
beating higher ranked players such as Tang Peng (HKG) and Alexander Shibaev (RUS). He
extended Zhang Jike (CHN) to six games before bowing out to the eventual champion. He
was awarded the ITTF Star Player award in 2014. He became the first African to make the
Top 30 in the World Rankings after his extraordinary performance.
•
Segun Toriola (NGR): Having won all major titles available in Africa, Toriola will be
appearing in his 7th and last Olympic Games. He now joins the likes of Jean-Michel Saive
(BEL) and Jorgen Persson (SWE) in the most number of Olympic Games appearances. He
competed in his first Olympic Games when he was 18.
•
David Powell (AUS): 2016 Rio Olympics was nearly a miss for David as he once considered
not to take part in the qualification tournament after failing to qualify for 2012 London
Olympics. However, the Mathematics teacher bounced back after making the team for
2014 Commonwealth Games. Rio will be David’s 1st Olympic Games appearance.
•
Marcos Madrid (MEX): Giving up doesn’t appear in Madrid’s dictionary as he qualified for
his 1st Olympic Games, after 2 previous failed attempts. He now plays in a French club.
•
Brian Afanador (PUR): Flag bearer for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games, Afanador is the first
male table tennis player from Puerto Rico to qualify for the Olympic Games.
pg. 3
Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Table Tennis Event
06-17 August 2016, Riocentro Pavilion 3
•
Kanak Jha (USA): Jha is the youngest ever male table tennis player to qualify for the
Olympic Games. He is also the first US Olympian born in the 2000’s for the Rio Olympic
Games. In 2014, he took part in the Men’s World Cup at 14.
•
Hugo Calderano (BRA): Calderano spends most of his time in Germany, practicing and
competing in the 1st division of the German league. At the 2014 Youth Olympic Games, he
won the Bronze medal, which is the first ever Olympic medal for Latin American table
tennis. When Calderano was young, he participated in volleyball and long jump as part of
his city team
•
Kirill Gerassimenko (KAZ): First male table tennis athlete from Kazakhstan to qualify for
the Olympic Games. Gerassimenko practices regularly at the Werner Schlager Academy in
Austria.
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Liam Pitchford (ENG): Pitchford was part of the bronze medal team at the 2016 World
Team Championships, where he led the England team to the semifinals since 1983. He lives
by the motto ‘Fail to prepare, prepare to fail’.
•
Brothers: There will be two pair of brothers who will be competing together in Rio. The
Assar brothers from Egypt and the Alamiyan brothers from Iran.
•
He Zhiwen (ESP): He is the oldest male player competing in Rio at age 54.
pg. 4