Substitute quota set for Olympic table tennis team event

(BEIJING, June 17) -- The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) announced that the IOC has agreed to set up a substitute quota for the table tennis team event in the Beijing Olympic Games. That is to say, each team has a substitute besides three registered players.

According to IOC's regulations, when a table tennis player is unexpectedly injured and is unable to continue competing in the Games, the substitute can participate in the event after the substitution application is approved. The replaced player is not allowed back in the game, no matter how short the recovery period.

The substitute quota generally applies to the team event. It was not needed in table tennis events in previous Olympics because only singles and doubles events were established; however, as the Beijing Olympic Games has set up a team event for the first time, the ITTF ultimately received the IOC's approval of establishing a substitute quota, explained Yao Xhenxu, chairman of ITTF Technical Committee.

The team event substitute player cannot substitute an injured player who has qualified for the singles event, added Yao.