On 10 April 2025, the ITTF announced the weighty news that the total number of table tennis gold medals at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles will be increased to six, including the reinstatement of the men’s and women’s doubles events, which have been cancelled for more than two decades, and the replacement of the men’s and women’s teams with mixed teams, for which FIDE President Ms Sorin publicly thanked First Vice-President Liu Guoliang:
‘I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Liu Guoliang, First Vice-President of the FIVB, for his strong support in organising this extraordinary event (the Mixed Teams World Cup), which has demonstrated the great potential of the Mixed Teams format.’
As those who follow the game know, the Mixed Team World Cup is a new tournament that will only begin in 2023, and is also the result of a major reform attempt by the FIVB, which has received strong support from China in particular, including consecutive signings to locate in Chengdu, and the national team sending a large number of its core starters to sign up for the tournament.
But unfortunately, the tournament has a mediocre response among the foreign associations, especially last year, a large number of strong team masters to give up the situation, so it is not an exaggeration to say: without the efforts of the Chinese people, this mixed team World Cup almost will not appear, appear also can not be run.
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As I said before, now the ITTF has not only kept the mixed team system in the World Cup, but also brought it into the Olympic Games, and even replaced the two traditional programmes – men’s team and women’s team, which naturally could not be separated from the joint efforts of the Chinese players represented by Liu Guoliang, that’s why Ms. Solean would thank him so openly.
As we all know, the Olympics is the most important competition in the world of table tennis, and its influence goes far beyond the field of table tennis. The increase in the total number of gold medals nowadays also shows that the influence of this sport has been enhanced again, which is indeed a cause for celebration.
Before this, many people had questioned Liu Guoliang’s commercialisation and reform of the system in China and the world of table tennis – a process that undeniably had many problems and caused dissatisfaction among some athletes and fans, but which now seems to have boosted the development of the sport, which led to the unprecedented six gold medals in the Olympics.
Now that we have seen the potential of table tennis in the world, let’s imagine: will we be able to work towards eight gold medals at the Olympics in the future? The suspense is still there, let’s wait and see!
