Liam Pitchford will compete in his fourth Olympic Games for Team GB, after being named by the British Olympic Association (BOA) as one of the two table tennis players travelling to Paris this summer.
He will be joined in Paris by debutant Anna Hursey who, at the age of 18, is set to become the first Welsh table tennis player to represent Team GB, since the sport was introduced to the Games in 1988. Both will compete in the singles.
Chesterfield’s Pitchford is now set to become the only British player to feature at four different Olympic Games, 12 years on from his first Games appearance at London 2012, aged 19.
A double Commonwealth Champion, and six-time British National Champion, the 30-year-old will have recovered from a shoulder injury in time to compete for Team GB this summer.
He said: “It’s a bit of a relief. I knew I’d done enough to make the ranking a while ago, but you never know for sure because things can change.
“I’m really happy to be going to my fourth Games. I’ve been getting my shoulder back to 100%, doing my rehab and getting in good shape. I’ve been back on the table a couple of weeks now and feeling good, so I’ll be heading straight to Paris, ready to go.”
Hursey, 18, from Cardiff, began competing at senior international level, at 10 years old, before becoming the youngest athlete in history to compete at a Commonwealth Games a year later in 2018 when she represented Wales on the Gold Coast, aged 11.
She has since won a bronze medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, broken into the world’s top 100 ranking for the first time this year, and is now the British number one ranked female player.
Commenting on her selection, Hursey said: “I’m just really excited for it. I’m looking forward to playing and having that experience where loads of people are watching, and how that feels on the table. It will be a completely different experience.
“I’ll try to take it all in. It will be really cool to see how everyone prepares for it and to see all the different athletes up close, and how they deal with things.”
Team GB Chef de Mission Mark England, OBE said: “We are delighted to have two remarkable table-tennis players travelling to Paris this summer. My congratulations go to Liam on becoming the first table-tennis player to represent Team GB at four different Games, and we also extend our congratulations to Anna as the first Welsh table tennis player to compete at an Olympic Games. We wish both players the very best in Paris and we will be following their progress in Paris very closely.”
The table-tennis events will run from 27 July to 10 August at the South Paris Arena within the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles. A total of five medal events will be contested: men and women’s singles, mixed team, and men and women’s team.
Team GB table-tennis players for Paris 2024 in full:
Anna Hursey
Liam Pitchford
With thanks to Team GB
