Table Tennis is not a sport that is dominated by Americans, in fact no American has ever medaled in Table Tennis. The field is stacked with great players from Asia. Only one medal has left the Far East, the Men’s Team Silver in 2008 which went to Germany.

The Team:

This year’s team is made up of four athletes. Timothy Wang will compete in Men’s Singles while Ariel Hsing and Lily Zhang will compete in Women’s Singles. Hsing and Zhang will team with Erica Wu to compete in Women’s Team. All are first time Olympians.

Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.

USA Table Tennis
Men:
Timothy Wang

Women:
Ariel Hsing
Lily Zhang
Erica Wu

Schedule:

Information is a bit hard to find but it appears the Individual competition is a best-of-7 competition. The team competition appears to consist of four singles matches and a doubles match. The team that wins three of the five matches advances. Both competitions are a purely knockout tournament.

All Times ET
Saturday July 28th
4 AM – Women’s Singles – Preliminary Round
4:45 AM – Men’s Singles – Preliminary Round
6:15 AM – 9:30 AM – Women’s Singles – 1st Round
11 AM – 2 PM – Men’s Singles – 1st Round
3:30 PM – Women’s Singles – 2nd Round

Sunday July 29th
4 AM – Women’s Singles – 2nd Round
6 AM – 8:30 AM – Men’s Singles – 2nd Round
1 PM – Women’s Singles – 3rd Round

Monday July 30th
5 AM – Men’s Singles – 3rd Round
10:30 AM – Women’s Singles – 4th Round
2 PM – Men’s Singles – 4th Round

Tuesday July 31st
5 AM – Women’s Singles – Quarterfinals
11 AM – Women’s Singles – Semifinals
3 PM – Men’s Singles – Quarterfinals

Wednesday August 1st
5 AM – Men’s Singles – Quarterfinals
9:30 AM – Women’s Singles – Bronze Medal Match
10:30 AM – Women’s Singles – Gold Medal Match

Thursday August 2nd
5 AM – Men’s Singles – Semifinals
9:30 AM – Men’s Singles – Bronze Medal Match
10:30 AM – Men’s Singles – Gold Medal Match

Friday August 3rd
5 AM – 9:30 AM – Women’s Team – 1st Round

Saturday August 4th
9:30 AM – 2 PM – Women’s Team – Quarterfinals

Sunday August 5th
2 PM – Women’s Team – Semifinals

Monday August 6th
5 AM – Women’s Team – Semifinals

Tuesday August 7th
6 AM – Women’s Team – Bronze Medal Match
10:30 AM – Women’s Team – Gold Medal Match

Past Results:

In 2008 the US’s Men’s Singles player lost in the Preliminary Round while in 2004 the US had an athlete in the 2nd Round. The women had a lot more success in Beijing as Wang Chen, a former Chinese Table Tennis player, made it to the quarterfinals. Additionally the women’s team was able to get into the playoff round for the bronze medal, though they didn’t medal. In 2004 the women had one competitor into the 3rd Round.

It would be surprising to see the US advance far in any of the competitions, but their best chance might come with the Women’s Team.