News The most precise details were tested, important new equipment was used for the first time and the lone non-South American in the competition emerged with a gold medal The Rio 2016 table tennis event came to an end late on Saturday night (21 November) with much to talk about “We tested important elements that could perhaps be imperceptible to people, such as the (air) flow in the venue, the lighting and even the colour of the floor,” said Gustavo Nascimento, Rio 2016’s venue management director “The feedback we have had from the athletes and the International Table Tennis Federation has been positive ”Go table tennis crazy with our interactive infographicThe Aquece Rio International Table Tennis Tournament ran over four days at Riocentro Pavilion 4, allowing for some important fine-tuning ahead of next year’s Olympic tournament, which will take place in the neighbouring Pavilion 3 ITTF President Thomas Weikert said: “We have gone through all aspects of the Olympic Games event with the Rio 2016 team and we are pleased with the progress and the conditions here in Riocentro – we are confident that we will have an amazing Olympic Games next year ”Table tennis’s million-dollar question: how do you beat the Chinese? All of the equipment is checked before each game (Photo: Rio 2016/Alex Ferro) The ITTF’s new tables were also put into action for the first time, as was the green floor created especially for the Rio 2016 Games Top-level table tennis events are normally contested on red or blue floors, but the ‘Rio look’ aims to give the event a Brazilian feel, in a similar way that the hockey pitches unveiled on Friday will “It is very Brazilian and does not disturb the players during the games,” said Cazuo Matsumoto, who helped Brazil win the men’s team gold medal “It is something that reflects our identity, something I have never seen before ”ITTF marketing director Steve Dainton was also positive about the innovation: “The new green floor looked great on TV and worked well with the table colour (blue), as well as the look of the Games, and got positive feedback from the players ”  The Rio 2016 table tennis tournament will be played on an innovative green floor (Photo: Rio 2016/Alex Ferro) Brazil’s three-time Olympian Thiago Monteiro, who won gold in the men’s team event on Saturday and silver in the singles, was also impressed by the organisation of the test event “In relation to the three editions of the Games I have played in, this event left nothing to be desired,” he said “Of course, everything will be on a much larger scale next year, but from what I saw here, we don’t have anything to worry about ”Monteiro lost in Thursday’s men’s singles final to Great Britain’s Paul Drinkhall, the only non-South American among 44 players in the tournament, who said the long trip across the Atlantic had been worthwhile “I’m very happy that I came, “ said the British No 1, currently ranked 57 in the world “Of course it’s very nice to win, but the most important thing was to come and see the place, and I hope this will help me next year ” Argentina’s Gaston Alto beat Matsumoto in the bronze medal match During the tournament, Drinkhall took time out to show Rio 2016 his favourite serves in this video:Apart from Drinkhall’s success in the men’s singles, Brazil won all of the other three gold medals up for grabs Top seed Gui Lin defeated compatriot Leticia Nakada for the women’s singles title, with Bruna Takahashi completing a clean sweep for the hosts, while Brazil also won the men’s and women’s team events, which concluded on Saturday  Click here for full results and reports from the test event Rio 2016 had about 100 staff working at Riocentro, while 24 sport-specialist volunteers assisted the players throughout the tournament “As much as for the players, who are not accustomed to this level of support from volunteers that happens at events the size of the Olympics, the training the volunteers received was very important I believe this was the most important test that was done,” said six-time Olympian Hugo Hoyama, who now coaches the Brazilian women’s team Althought the event was not open to the general public, there were 700 seats for invited guests, including those who won tickets at Monday’s event at Rio’s main railway station, where members of the public took on professional players Table tennis was the second competition in the second wave of Rio 2016 test events, following the boccia tournament earlier this month The week starting Monday 23 November will see three more test events: hockey, badminton and canoe slalom staged in Rio Among the duties of the volunteers was to look after and present the medals (Photo: Rio 2016/Alex Ferro)