Liam Pitchford to compete in record fourth Olympics for GB in table tennis

The 30-year-old has recovered from shoulder surgery in time to play at Paris 2024 and will be joined by Wales’ Anna Hursey.

Liam Pitchford will become the first British table tennis player to compete at four Olympic Games in Paris (Tim Goode/PA) (PA Archive)

Liam Pitchford will create Olympic history by becoming the first British table tennis player to compete at four different Games.

Pitchford, 30, has recovered from shoulder surgery in time to play at Paris 2024 and will be joined by teenager Anna Hursey, who is set to become the first Welsh table tennis player to represent Team GB since the sport was introduced to the Games in 1988.

Both players will compete in the singles competitions that get under way later this month.

“I’m really happy to be going to my fourth Games,” said double Commonwealth champion Pitchford, from Chesterfield, who made his Olympics debut at London 2012 and also competed at Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.

“It’s a bit of a relief. I knew I’d done enough to make the ranking a while ago, but you never know for sure because things can change.

“I’ve been getting my shoulder back to 100 per cent, doing my rehab and getting in good shape.

“I’ve been back on the table a couple of weeks now and feeling good, so I’ll be heading straight to Paris ready to go.”

Hursey, 18, from Cardiff, began competing at senior international level at the age of 10.

Anna Hursey will become the first Welsh player to represent Team GB since table tennis sport was introduced to the Olympics in 1988 (Martin Rickett/PA) (PA Archive)

As an 11-year-old, she became the youngest-ever athlete to compete at the Commonwealth Games when representing Wales on the Gold Coast in 2018.

“I’m just really excited for it,” said Hursey, who won a bronze medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and broke into the world’s top 100 female players for the first time this year.

“I’m looking forward to playing and having that experience where loads of people are watching, and how that feels on the table.

“It will be a completely different experience.”

Team GB chef de mission Mark England said: “We are delighted to have two remarkable table tennis players travelling to Paris this summer.”