News It must be one of the hardest decisions in world sport: selecting who will represent China in table tennis at the Olympic Games Chinese players dominate the top spots in the world rankings but, in accordance with the rules of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), only two players per country may enter the singles events The country has won 24 of the 28 Olympic gold medals contested since the sport entered the Games in 1988 They achieved clean sweeps at the London 2012 and Beijing 2008 Games, winning all four golds up for grabs (individual and team for both men and women) Table tennis’s million-dollar question: how do you beat the Chinese? This embarrassment of riches has had a happy consequence for Ding Ning, who won individual silver at London 2012 and will now get a chance to go one better at Rio 2016 Ding Ning, ranked no 2 in the world, has been named as one of China's two competitors in the women's individual event, ahead of Liu Shiwen, even though the latter has occupied the no 1 spot in the world rankings since December Liu will, however, compete in the team event Become an expert on table tennis with our infographic Legends The other place on the women's singles team has gone to Li Xiaoxia, gold medallist at London 2012 She now has the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of legendary colleagues, Deng Yaping and Zhang Yining, the only two players to have successfully defended the women’s singles title at an Olympic Games The biggest obstacle to her quest will be none other than Ding Ning In the men's individual event, London 2012 gold medallist Zhang Jike faces an even greater challenge in Rio He will be trying to achieve what no player has managed so far – to defend the men's Olympic singles title In Rio, he may find source for extra motivation and inspiration: Zhang Jike's father named him after the Brazilian footballing legend and Rio de Janeiro native Zico Zhang Jike will be attempting the unprecedented: a successful defence of his Olympic singles title (Photo: Getty Images/Robertus Pudyanto) Zhang, who beat colleague Wang Hao to secure gold in London four years ago, will line up alongside Ma Long as China’s two representatives in the event  Ma Long gained his place by winning the ITTF-Asia Olympic Games Qualification Tournament He is currently no 1 in the ranking, ahead of the current Olympic champion who has slipped to no 4   World no 3 Xu Xin has been called up only for the team event, but no 2 Fan Zhendong will miss the Games all together, Reuters reported   The table tennis events at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be staged from 6 to 17 August All matches will be played in Pavilion 3 of Rio Centro in Barra Olympic Park