Great Britain’s table tennis athletes are ready to set out on the pathway to the new Mixed Team competition at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

The event will be part of the Olympics for the first time in LA, alongside Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, doubles in both genders and Mixed Doubles – making six medal events in total.

Great Britain now appears on the ITTF Mixed Team world rankings which will help to decide which nations qualify for the Olympics.

The Mixed Team rankings are the only ones in which the ITTF recognises Great Britain rather than the individual Home Nations, enabling GB to play their strongest team in the qualifying events in that category.

The individual Home Nations will continue to compete at the ITTF World Team Championships and the European Team Championships and remain on the separate world rankings lists covering all other categories, excluding Mixed Team.

Individual athletes will still represent their Home Nation in singles and doubles editions of the Worlds and Europeans.

In addition, all Home Nation sovereignty and voting rights remain exactly the same as independent members of the ITTF.

Gavin Evans, Head of Performance Development, commented: “This is very welcome and enables GB to put their best foot forward in all qualification events for LA2028.

“This ensures transparency and fairness throughout the qualification process and supports our team ambitions ahead of and at LA2028.

“We look ahead now to playing the Mixed Team World Cup in Chengdu in December and very much look forward to competing at the European Games in June 2027. There is a huge amount of excitement and so much to look forward to for our young GB team.”

Table Tennis Wales CEO Owen Rodgers said: “It’s fantastic to see Great Britain represented in the Mixed Team World Rankings. This is a great opportunity to showcase the strength of table tennis across the Home Nations, and we’re proud to see Welsh players contributing to the GB programme and competing at the highest level.”

Richard Yule, Chief Operating Officer of Table Tennis Scotland, said: “The Mixed Team format represents a fantastic opportunity for athletes from across Great Britain to qualify for the Olympic stage. We’re thrilled to be part of it and wish all British athletes every success on the qualifying journey.”

Arnold Morgan, Chair of Table Tennis Ireland, said: “We welcome the opportunity for players from across the Home Nations to compete together as Great Britain in the new Olympic Mixed Team pathway.

“From a Northern Ireland perspective, it is an exciting opportunity to contribute to a strong GB team while retaining our own identity and international status.”

What does the road to LA2028 look like?

The European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) recently confirmed the qualification pathway for the Mixed Team Event at the 2027 European Games in Istanbul.

The European Games will feature 16 mixed teams, with the gold medal-winning team earning the continental quota place for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Five continental champions from around the world will qualify for the Olympics, along with six teams through the ITTF Mixed Team World Cup 2027, two through the Mixed Team World Ranking of January 2028, USA as the host country, and two further teams through players already qualified in the singles, doubles or mixed doubles events.

The 16 places at the European Games will be allocated as follows:

• 1 place for the host team
• 11 places for teams directly qualified through the European Mixed Team Ranking
• 4 places awarded through the Mixed Team Qualification Event

Great Britain is currently eighth on the European Mixed Team Ranking.