Stepping onto the world stage is the Olympic table tennis, which has already begun as one of the many 2024 Summer Olympic sports, and we'll help you find a way to watch the games.
US: Peacock | NBC
UK: iPlayer | BBC (free with license fee) | Discovery Plus
AU: Stan Sports | 9Now (free)
Watch abroad with a VPN
Sports fans in Australia or the UK will be able to watch the Olympic table tennis games for free on 9Now or iPlayer, which is certainly a real treat. But never fear if you're away from home during the tournament, because you can watch the Olympic games from anywhere with a VPN.
The small-form table-mounted racquet sport was first introduced to the Olympics in 1988 and has since become popular for its incredibly fast-paced and competitive form of play.
A grand total of 60 different nations are set to participate across the five different table tennis events, with both singles, doubles and team (which alternates between singles and doubles) matches.
If you're interested to see the Olympic table tennis, here's how to watch it and also everything else you need to know about it.
How to watch Olympic table tennis in the US
The best way of watching all of the Summer Games in the US, including the Olympic table tennis, is by using the streaming service Peacock.
Peacock is set to host live streams of all the different Olympic events, and you can even watch multiple different sports at once, as well as get notifications about different medals and reminders of upcoming sports.
You can subscribe to Peacock for $5.99 per month for Premium or $11.99 for Premium Plus, the benefit of the latter being its ad-free streaming. There are annual plans for $59.99 and $119.99 respectively if you want to sign up to the movie and TV service for more than just the Olympics.
How to watch Olympic table tennis in the UK
The BBC is the official Olympic broadcaster in the UK, and so you'll need to use its two options to see the table tennis tournament.
The BBC will show sports on two of its two channels, BBC One and BBC Two, throughout the tournament, with coverage flipping between the two. You can also use iPlayer to stream from Olympics Extra, a second live stream that'll show other sports not broadcast on the main channels.
Neither of these live streams will let you watch specific sports on demand, so to see the table tennis you'll have to hope that the BBC opts to show it. At the very least, using the BBC is free for those who pay their license fee.
Thankfully, there is another option that'll let you see the sports. Discovery Plus is set to show a lot more of the Olympic games, and while it usually costs £6.99 per month for its Standard plan, a temporary deal lets you sign up for £3.99 monthly until the end of the year.
How to watch Olympic table tennis in Australia
Australian fans of table tennis can watch the Olympic competition by using the free online streaming service 9Now.
9Now is set to offer viewers live streams of every Olympic sport, including of course table tennis, on your computer, phone, smart TV or other device.
We also expect Channel Nine to show some Olympic coverage and highlights on its live TV channels, but there's no way of telling which sports Nine will pick to show or how long it'll show them before moving onto the next one.
How to watch Olympic table tennis everywhere else
If you're going to be away from your normal TV setup but still want to watch the Olympic table tennis events, you might run into some problems. Thankfully, you can solve this exact issue with a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
A VPN lets you change your IP address to that of the area of what you want to watch, meaning you can tune in to your favorite X or other content even if you're not there. Our favorite is NordVPN, which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar.
How to use a VPN to watch any stream
- Download the app at NordVPN
- Choose the location of the streaming service you want to watch (UK, US, etc)
- Navigate to the streaming service and start watching!
Olympic table tennis schedule
Here are when the rounds of table tennis matches take place. Times are in CEST, local to Paris, which is one hour ahead of the UK, six ahead of ET, nine ahead of PT and eight behind AEST.
Saturday, July 27
- 3 pm: men's singles preliminary round
- 3 pm: women's singles preliminary round
- 4:30 pm: mixed doubles round of 16
- 8 pm: men's singles round of 64
- 8 pm: women's singles round of 64
Sunday, July 28
- 10 am: men's singles round of 64
- 10 am: women's singles round of 64
- 4 pm: mixed doubles quarterfinals
- 8 pm: men's singles round of 64
- 8 pm: women's singles round of 64
Monday, July 29
- 10 am: men's singles round of 64
- 10 am: women's singles round of 64
- 4 pm: mixed doubles semi-final 1
- 5 pm: mixed doubles semi-final 2
- 8 pm: men's singles round of 32
- 8 pm: women's singles round of 32
Tuesday, July 30
- 10 am: men's singles round of 32
- 10 am: women's singles round of 32
- 1:30 pm: mixed doubles bronze medal match
- 2:30 pm: mixed doubles gold medal match
Wednesday, July 31
- 10 am: men's singles round of 32
- 10 am: women's singles round of 32
- 3 pm: men's singles round of 16
- 3 pm: women's singles round of 16
Thursday, August 1
- 10 am: women's singles quarter-final 1
- 11 am: men's singles quarter-final 1
- midday: women's singles quarter-final 2
- 3 pm: men's singles quarter-final 2
- 4 pm: women's singles quarter-final 3
- 5 pm: men's singles quarter-final 3
- 8 pm: women's singles quarter-final 4
- 9 pm: men's singles quarter-final 4
Friday, August 2
- 10 am: women's singles semi-final 1
- 11 am: men's singles semi-final 1
- 1:30 pm: women's singles semi-final 2
- 2:30 pm: men's singles semi-final 2
Saturday, August 3
- 1:30 pm: women's singles bronze medal match
- 2:30 pm: women's singles gold medal match
Sunday, August 4
- 1:30 pm: men's singles bronze medal match
- 2:30 pm: men's singles gold medal match
Monday, August 5
- 10 am: men's team round of 16
- 10 am: women's team round of 16
Tuesday, August 6
- 10 am: men's team round of 16
- 10 am: women's team round of 16
- 3 pm: men's team quarter-finals
- 3 pm: women's team quarter-finals
Wednesday, August 7
- 10 am: men's team quarter-finals
- 10 am: women's team quarter-finals
- 8 pm: men's team semi-final 1
Thursday, August 8
- 10 am: men's team semi-final 2
- 3 pm: women's team semi-final 1
- 8 pm: women's team semi-final 2
Friday, August 9
- 10 am: men's team bronze medal match
- 3 pm: men's team gold medal match
Saturday, August 10
- 10 am: women's team bronze medal match
- 3 pm: women's team gold medal match
All you need to know about the Olympic table tennis events
When does the Olympic table tennis tournament begin?
The first matches of the Olympic table tennis events will begin on Saturday, July 27, which is when the preliminary rounds of men's and women's singles, as well as mixed doubles, begin.
What events make up the Olympic table tennis competition?
There are five different Olympic table tennis events: two men's, two women's and one mixed. Here are the full five:
- Men's singles
- Women's singles
- Mixed doubles
- Men's team
- Women's team
Where does the Olympic table tennis tournament take place
The Olympic table tennis event will be contested at the South Paris Arena, and you get no points for guessing where this is in relation to France's capital city.
The South Paris Arena will host four events during the Summer Olympics: handball, volleyball and weightlifting will join table tennis.
How to watch other Olympic sports
If you want specific information on other Olympic sports, here are guides we have to the other activities which will be shown as part of the Paris Olympic games:
