Table Tennis - Team Portugal

General
Portugal are competing at their third Olympic Games following appearances in 2012 and 2016. They qualified for Tokyo on home soil, as one of nine teams to secure a place through the 2020 World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Gondomar.

At the 2016 Games in Rio, the Portuguese team lost 3-1 to Austria in the first round. Four years earlier in London, they won their opening match 3-0 against hosts Great Britain, before a narrow 3-2 quarterfinal defeat to eventual silver medallists the Republic of Korea ended their campaign.

In recent years, Portugal have emerged as potential medal contenders on the world stage. Their quarterfinal appearance at the 2014 World Championships in Tokyo was the team's best ever performance at the tournament, and the first time they had ever finished ranked inside the top 10. They reached the last eight again at the 2016 edition, but at the 2018 World Championships they were eliminated in the round of 16 by Austria.

Portugal's fortunes have fared even better at continental level in the last decade. After a first European championship semifinal appearance in 2011, they went on to win the tournament in 2014 before claiming gold at the inaugural European Games in 2015. They finished as runners-up at the European championships in 2017 and 2019 behind Germany on both occasions, and won bronze at the 2019 European Games.