Ma Long, Chen Meng to spearhead Chinese table tennis challenge at Tokyo Olympics  

The legendary Ma Long and women’s World No. 1 Chen Meng will spearhead the six-member Chinese table tennis team at the Tokyo Olympics. All six paddlers selected are within the world's top 10 in their respective categories and are expected to give their opponents a tough time.

Men’s top-ranked paddler Fan Zhendong will lead China alongside Long in the singles event while Xu Xin will join the two in the team event.

Meanwhile, World No. 3 Sun Yisha will join hands with Meng in women’s singles. Reigning singles world champion Liu Shiwen will add more firepower to the Chinese delegation in the women’s team event.

In the mixed doubles event, which is making its debut at the Tokyo Olympics, reigning world champions Xin and Shiwen will spearhead the Chinese challenge. China has dominated table tennis for decades and will go all out this time as well to claim gold medals in all the events.

A table tennis master class - Ma Long 🇨🇳 took the gold medal in style at Rio 2016.Relive the men's singles final here.#TableTennis @ittfworld https://t.co/SWQYuCKztB

— Olympic Channel (@olympicchannel) April 1, 2020

Chen Meng aims to bag maiden Olympic medal

Defending ITTF Finals champion Chen Meng, who has been the No. 1 women's singles player since 2019, will look to clinch her maiden Olympic medal in Tokyo. Zhendong (2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics gold) and Yisha (2018 Buenos Aires Youth Olympics gold) will also aim to increase their medal count at the senior level.

On the men's side, three-time Olympic medalist Ma Long is the reigning men’s singles champion at the Games. The 32-year-old also has the distinction of being the paddler with the joint second-highest Olympic medals ever.

The Olympic Games #Tokyo2020 will be held from 23 July until 8 August 2021.More information here: https://t.co/ST25uXKglE pic.twitter.com/sQo1TIcH5O

— #Tokyo2020 (@Tokyo2020) March 30, 2020

China table tennis team at Tokyo Olympics

Men’s singles: Ma Long, Fan Zhendong

Women’s singles: Chen Meng, Sun Yingsha

Men’s team: Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Xu Xin

Women’s team: Chen Meng, Sun Yingsha, Liu Shiwen

Mixed team: Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen