The ongoing World Team Championships in London will continue to be decided with separate men's and women's tournaments. That will not be the case at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
A year ago, it was announced that the team events - which made their debut in Beijing in 2008 - for each gender would disappear. Instead, men and women would form a joint team.
Took ten of ten golds
Mixed teams benefit Asian teams more than European ones, says Marcus Sjöberg, national captain of the Swedish men's team.
The Asian countries can field super teams - with China as the obvious favorite. The Chinese men and women have won ten of ten possible team gold medals at the Olympics.
On the men's side, European teams have been contenders for Olympic medals. Sweden took silver in 2024, Germany has two silvers and two bronzes, and France has one bronze.
It looks the same at the World Championships, where no bronze matches have been played for many years. Since Sweden won the World Team Championships in 2000, China has won eleven straight gold medals, and European men's teams were runners-up in eight of those finals.
On the women's side, things look completely different. Germany's 2016 Olympic silver stands out - the other medals have been won by Asian national teams and the last 26 World Cup finals have been between Asian teams.
Asia is very dominant on the women's side. We, and countries like France, may not be very happy with mixed teams. Japan, China and South Korea are very strong, says Sjöberg.
However, a positive for Sweden is that doubles tournaments are making a comeback on the Olympic program in Los Angeles for both men and women.
"It will be a good medal opportunity," says Sjöberg.
“Fun for the audience”
The wind of change has also blown through the World Team Championships. Sweden and the other six top-ranked men's teams, as well as host nation England, have qualified directly for the round of 16.
Instead, seeding matches will be played this weekend. The Blue and Yellows will meet South Korea in the opening match at 1:30 p.m. at Wembley Arena in London. England will face China tonight before the group stage ends on Sunday.
"I think it's fun that we get to face the good teams directly. It's also fun for the audience to see the big nations meet directly," says world number two Truls Möregårdh about the format.
For Sweden, it will be important to avoid fourth place and thus avoid the risk of facing China in a possible quarter-final.
The World Team Table Tennis Championships for men and women will be held in London from April 28 to May 10.
The blue and yellow men are already qualified for the knockout phase, but will play group games on Saturday and Sunday that will determine the seeding in the tournament. The top seven in the world and host nation England are divided into two groups.
Sweden's matches:
Saturday: South Korea (1:30 p.m.), England (8:30 p.m.).
Sunday: China (1:30 p.m.).
The other top group on the men's side features France, Japan, Germany and Taiwan. The first round of 16 matches will be played on Monday.
The other national teams will begin by playing in four-team groups - 14 groups in total - with the top six and the six best runners-up advancing to the knockout phase. The other eight runners-up play a knockout round where four teams advance.
The Swedish women participated in the first phase of the tournament and advanced to the knockout phase after three straight victories against Costa Rica, Canada and Sri Lanka.
On the women's side, the top seven consist of China, South Korea, Taiwan, Romania, Japan, Germany and France.
The matches are decided in best-of-five singles matches.
Men's and women's team competitions in table tennis were included in the Olympic program for Beijing 2008.
They were introduced at the expense of the men's and women's doubles tournaments, which had been on the Olympic schedule alongside the singles events since their debut in Seoul in 1988.
Mixed doubles made its debut at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. A mixed team competition will now be introduced for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games instead of separate team competitions for men and women.
There will be a total of six medal events at the 2028 Olympics: singles (women's and men's), doubles (women's and men's), mixed teams and mixed doubles.
