By Neha Aggarwal

Number of Events: A total of three events will be played- Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles and Mixed Teams.

Number of Athlete Quota places: 32 men and 32 women= 64 athletes will be selected through the following three categories:

Maximum Quota Places per NOC (National Olympic Committee): One male and one female= two athletes

Eligibility: Athletes born between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2003 and those who comply with the Olympic Charter are eligible for YOG.

Qualification period: 1st April 2017 – 23rd July 2018.

Qualification Process

Of the 64 athletes, 29 men and 29 women will have an opportunity to qualify by competing in the six Continental Qualification Events and six “Road to Buenos Aires 2018 series” events and by ITTF Under-18 World Ranking as of July 2018. Invitation quota places will also be offered for the host nation and Universality Places.

Continental Qualification Events:

A total of 14 men and 14 women will qualify via the following six continental qualification events. (Numbers in parentheses signify the quota places for the top ranked men and women each).

•  YOG Continental Qualification, Africa at Tunis, TUN from 16th – 17th April 2017 ( 2 men & 2 women)
• YOG Continental Qualification, Latin America at Santo Domingo, DOM, from 12th – 14th May 2017 (2 men & 2 women)
• YOG Continental Qualification, Europe at Split, CRO, from 3rd – 5th November 2017 (4 men & 4 women)
• YOG Continental Qualification, Asia at Ahmedabad, IND, from 3rd – 5th November 2017 (4 men & 4 women)
• YOG Continental Qualification, Oceania at Bendigo, AUS, from 11th – 12th November 2017 (1 man & 1 woman)
• YOG Continental Qualification, North America at Las Vegas, USA from 19th – 20th December 2017 (1 man & 1 woman)

“Road to Buenos Aires 2018 series” Events:

The “Road to Buenos Aries 2018 series” is a series of six special competitions held in 2018 (the dates will be announced soon). Each NOC may be represented by only one athlete per competition per gender.

There will be two direct elimination competitions organized on two consecutive days. The top ranked athletes in each gender per competition from NOCs not qualified through the Continental Qualification Events will qualify for the YOG.

ITTF Under-18 World Ranking:

The top three ranked eligible athletes from an NOC which are not yet qualified through the Continental Qualification or “Road to Buenos Aries 2018 series” events, and appear on the ITTF Under-18 World Ranking as of July 2018 will qualify for the YOG.

Confirmation Deadline: ITTF will confirm all NOCs’ qualification places from the above three categories on 10 July 2018. The NOCs will then have two weeks until 24 July 2018, to confirm if they wish to use these quota places.

Host Country Places:

The host country is invited to send names of one male and one female athletes on the condition that both athletes meet the eligibility requirements.

 Confirmation Deadline: 10 July 2018

Universality Places:

Two male and two female Universality Places each are available to eligible NOCs for the YOG.

Eligibility: Athletes must have participated in the last continental junior championships before the selection and at least one ITTF Junior Circuit event in the two years prior to the Youth Olympic Games and that the athletes meet the eligibility criteria.

Confirmation Process & Deadlines: The International Olympic Committee will invite all eligible NOCs to submit their requests for Universality Places by 15 January 2017. The Tripartite Commission will confirm, in writing, the allocation of invitation places to the relevant NOCs, in collaboration with ITTF, as of 13 March 2017. The NOCs will have until 31 March 2017 to confirm the use of their places to the Tripartite Commission.

Mixed Team Event:

Team Composition: One male and one female from athletes qualified for the individual competitions.

Teams will be formed according to the following order:

• Same NOC team – One boy and one girl from the same NOC
• Continental team – One boy and one girl from different NOCs but from the same continent
• Intercontinental team – One boy and one girl from different NOCs

Reallocation of Unused Quota Places:

If a quota place allocated is not confirmed by the NOC by the confirmation of quota place deadline or is declined by the NOC, the next best ranked athlete qualified by the respective qualification category will be considered. The reallocation period in which the ITTF will reallocate places and NOCs will confirm is from 25th July 2018 to 22nd August 2018.

Please refer to the full guide of the Qualification System of the Youth Olympic Games for further details.

Visit the official 3rd Youth Olympic Games website for more information.