2020 Olympic Table Tennis Odds – Men’s & Women’s Singles & Team

• China is favored to sweep the gold medals in the four remaining Olympic table tennis events at the Tokyo Summer Games
• Asian Games gold medalist Zhendong Fan is the -150 chalk to win the men’s singles gold medal
• Meng Chen, the Asian Games silver medal winner, is the -175 chalk to take the women’s singles gold medal

Five years ago in Rio de Janeiro, China swept the Olympic table tennis medals. Chinese players won the men’s and women’s singles gold medals. Teams from China also won the team title in both the men’s and women’s division.

Oddsmakers see history repeating itself at the Tokyo Summer Games. China’s Zhendong Fan is the -150 gold medal favorite to capture the men’s singles title. In women’s singles, it’s Meng Chen who is the -175 chalk to take the gold medal.

China is also the country to beat in both men’s (-5000) and women’s (-5000) team titles. Thus far at the Tokyo Summer Olympics, host nation Japan upset China to win the gold medal in the newly-added mixed doubles competition.

 Olympic Table Tennis Men’s Singles Odds

Odds as of July 27 at Bet365

Affectionately nicknamed Little Fatty due to his thick build, Fan is the #1-ranked player in the world in men’s singles. He won the Table Tennis World Cup men’s singles titles in 2016, 2018 and 2019.

Fan also won the men’s singles gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games. He’s the top-seeded player in men’s singles for the Tokyo Summer Games. Thus far, Fan has won his two matches and dropped just one of nine sets played. He’ll face South Korea’s Youngsik Jeoung, the #13 player in the IITF rankings, in Tuesday’s quarterfinals.

Fan Zhendong doing this is a thing of beauty #Tokyo2020 #TableTennis pic.twitter.com/DjFO8Oywsq

— Manas Geeta Arun मानस गीता अरुण মানস গীতা অরুন (@manas_ga) July 27, 2021

It isn’t fan but China’s Long Ma who is the defending Olympic men’s singles gold medalist. Ma is the #2 seed in Tokyo and the #3-ranked player in the world. He already owns three Olympic gold medals. Ma meets Egypt’s Omar Assar in quarterfinal action. Assar is ranked #43 in the world.

Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov was a bronze medalist in men’s singles at the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games. He’s the seventh seed in men’s singles and the #8-ranked player in the world.

The 2020 World Table Tennis Championship men’s singles final saw Fan facing Ma. Expect a repeat performance.

Pick: Fan Zhendong (CHN) -150

 Olympic Women’s Table Tennis Singles Odds

The remaining field in women’s singles includes the top-three ranked players in the world. Meng Chen is #1 run. She won a silver medal in women’s singles and gold in the team competition at the 2018 Asian Games.

At the 2020 world championship and the 2020 ITTF World Cup, Chen was also the champion. Chen defeated Chinese teammate Yingsha Sun in the ITTF World Cup final. Sun is the #3-ranked player on the planet.

When China opted to drop out of all international competition leading up to the Tokyo Summer Games, Sun dropped behind Japan’s Mima Ito in the world rankings. Even though she came into the Olympic tournament ranked #3 in the world, Sun was granted the two seed for the tourney.

Ito is seeded #3. She was the second seed at the ITTF Women’s World Cup but settled for the bronze medal. However, Ito is the only female table tennis player in the world who can boast that she’s won a gold medal in Tokyo. Ito teamed with Jun Mizutani to win the gold medal in mixed doubles. In fact, she’s the only Japanese woman to ever win a gold medal in table tennis.

https://twitter.com/MatthewMohanCNA/status/1419949310767075335?s=20

After the big three, none of the rest of the world’s top seven players are in women’s singles. That’s because six of the world’s top seven players are Chinese and Olympic rules limit countries to two competitors in singles.

World #14 JiHee Jeon of South Korea and #47 Menghu Yu of Singapore are still alive. Both were bronze medalists in the 2020 Asian Games. Germany’s Ying Han is #44 in the world rankings. She placed fourth at the 2020 IITF Women’s World Cup.

Pick: Mueng Chen (CHN) -175

Olympic Table Tennis Men’s Team Odds

In Olympic table tennis history, China has won 28 of 33 gold medals presented. The men’s team event was added at the Beijing Games in 2008. China won the gold medal that year and has won at each ensuing Olympiad.

China lists the top three players in the world and each member of this trio is in Tokyo – Fan, Ma and second-ranked Xu Xin. The Chinese count four players among the world’s top five. Ma and Xin won gold medals in the team competition in Rio.

On a day that began with disappointment in shooting, Sharath Kamal gave an electrifying performance, taking fearlessly on 3 time Olympic champion Ma Long and gave his all in a tough fight in Round 3 of Table Tennis.
Well played Champ pic.twitter.com/vg4zqHkJcf

— Aditya Singh Raghav (@adityasingh2130) July 27, 2021

Germany (Ovtcharov, #10 Timo Boll) is the only other country with more than one player ranked among the world’s top 10. They were both part of Germany’s bronze medal-winning team in Rio.

Pick: China (-5000)

Olympic Table Tennis Women’s Team Odds

With six of the top seven-ranked players in the world, it’s difficult to look at any other country than China to win the women’s team gold medal. In fact, were they allowed to enter two teams, the Chinese would likely also win the silver medal.

chen meng R32 WS pic.twitter.com/lSRCPJsK2Y

— 화奈 ◡̈ (@terkodai) July 26, 2021

Japan’s Ito and Kasumi Ishikawa, both through to singles quarterfinal competition, won bronze medals at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic team event.

Ying Han helped Germany to win the silver medal in the women’s team tourney at Rio.

Pick: China (-5000)