Reigning Olympic champions to be invited to compete at WTT Grand Smash, Champions

China celebrates victory after winning the women's table tennis team gold medal against Japan at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, Aug. 10, 2024. (Xinhua/Chen Yichen)

BEIJING, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- The World Table Tennis (WTT) updated its Handbook on Friday, announcing that all reigning Olympic gold medalists will receive "Olympic Champions Gold Cards" to participate in the WTT Grand Smash main draw and WTT Champions.

According to the updated rules, up to five gold medalists per gender from the last Olympics - three for the team event, one for singles, and one for mixed doubles - will be invited to these events. For the 64-player WTT Grand Smash, up to three Olympic Champions Gold Cards will be awarded, replacing the previous automatic entry for the top 50 players with the top 47 to 50 based on world rankings at the entry deadline.

For the 32-player WTT Champions, the top 27 to 30 players will now receive automatic entry based on world rankings, down from the previous top 30.

The entry deadline for the WTT Grand Smash singles main draw/qualifying has been adjusted from five to six weeks before the event. Players will have a free cancellation period until Thursday evening of the deadline week. After this period, cancellations will be subject to applicable fines.

Women's singles winner Sun Yingsha (L) and men's singles winner Lin Shidong celebrate with their trophies at the 2025 World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash, Feb. 9, 2025. (Photo by Then Chih Wey/Xinhua)

Olympic champions will have the same confirmation timeline through their member association. If a champion is not in the world rankings, they will be seeded based on their last active rankings.

Additionally, the minimum prize money for WTT Grand Smash, WTT Finals, WTT Star Contender, and WTT Contender events will increase. These changes will take effect starting April 1, with the WTT Champions Incheon (April 1-6) being the first event to implement the new rules.