Table tennis wants Olympic mixed doubles or mixed team event

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) Table tennis is lobbying for the inclusion of a mixed doubles or mixed teams event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The International Table Tennis Federation says its president, Thomas Weikert, raised the proposal during a meeting with IOC President Thomas Bach.

Table tennis currently has four medal competitions in the Olympics: men's and women's singles and men's and women's team events.

Weikert says ''we have tried in the past to get the mixed doubles or mixed teams in the table tennis Olympic program.''

He says ''my conversations with President Bach were positive, so we hope that we will have a fifth table tennis gold medal added by Tokyo 2020.''

Under Bach, the IOC has approved changes to make the Olympic program more flexible and move from a sport-based to an event-based system.