[1] Table tennis has appeared at the Summer Olympics on six previous occasions beginning with the 1988 Games in Seoul.

[3][4] The top 28 male and top 28 female players on the International Table Tennis Federation's ranking list immediately after the 2011 World Table Tennis Championships, which finished on 15 May 2011 in the Netherlands, were qualified for the singles events at Games.

[5] Ten continental qualification tournaments then were used to assign a total of 40 places between 28 June 2011 and 22 April 2012.

One invitational place per gender was allocated by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).

The highest-ranked nation at the 2012 World Team Championships from each of the six continents earned the right to enter as long as three of its players had met the qualification criteria for the singles event.