Table tennis in Maldives has been making the rounds in both local and international tournaments, such as the Asian Games, the National Table Tennis Tournament and the South Asia Youth Table Tennis Championship to name a few. The Table Tennis Association of Maldives (TTAM) was established in 1961 as the local governing body of the sport, and has held National Table Tennis Tournaments since 1962 aside from 2020 due to Covid-19.

Table tennis is a major sport around the world, with Maldives slowly solidifying its presence as a force to be reckoned with on the world stage.

Table tennis has always been popular and garnered excitement in Maldives and while the country has many table tennis players, there are a few who stand out as masters of their craft who have and are making a name for themselves.

Mueena Mohamed is a retired table tennis player who hung up her paddle in July 2019 after winning a gold medal in the women's team event at the Indian Ocean Island Games 2019 held in Mauritius. She is known as the most decorated female table tennis athlete in Maldives, and is currently working as a coach and fitness instructor in football.

She began playing as a child and claimed her first champion title in 2000 but suffered defeat in 2001. She went on to win 13 consecutive titles in the Singles category of the National Table Tennis Tournament, marking the longest running win in women’s table tennis and with a total of 15 wins in the category.

She has also won many other medals across her career, such as:

Moosa Munsif Ahmed has been playing table tennis for well over 20 years now and is the best male table tennis player in Maldives currently. He is also the national champion, and has played in various international tournaments over the last decade.

He has gone on to win the National Table Tennis Championship in the Singles Category a total of 11 times and has secured the Sportsman of the Year in 2025 and the Athlete of the Year in the Men’s Category for 2022, 2023 and 2025 in the Sports Awards.

During the 2025 Republic Day ceremony, he received the National Award for Special Achievement, presented by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu.

He was also part of the Mixed Doubles team at the Indian Ocean Island Games in August 2023 where Maldives won its first-ever international Mixed Doubles Gold medal in table tennis.

Mohamed Shaffan Ismail was crowned the National Table Tennis Championship Men's Singles Champion in 2022 and 2023.

He went on to win the 2023 Association Cup Men's Singles Champion, along with silver medals in the men's singles, doubles, and team events, partnering with Moosa Munsif Ahmed in the 2023 Indian Ocean Island Games. He also won a bronze medal in the Mixed Doubles category, paired up with Fathimath Dheema Ali.

He won the 1st Division Men's Singles in the 63rd National Table Tennis Tournament and went on to win the Best Male Table Tennis Player of the Year in 2024.

Aishath Rafa Nazim is known to have won her third National Table Tennis Tournament in 2025 in the Singles Category while simultaneously defeating Fathimath Dheema Ali. Rafa was the athlete that ended Dheema’s five-year win streak in the same category.

Rafa was part of the team that won the first ever Gold medal for Maldives in the 2019 Indian Ocean Island Games, the same tournament where Mueena retired after securing the milestone.

She played in the Women’s Doubles category in the 2025 Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh with Dheema as her partner, with the duo winning a Bronze medal.

During the ongoing 2026 Asian Games, Rafa claimed victory against Bangladesh in the Single Category, along with a win in the Mixed Doubles Category against Mongolia with Munsif as her pair.

Fathimath Dheema Ali is known as the prodigy of Maldivian table tennis, with an extensive number of wins since childhood. She played her first tournament in 2016 in Malaysia, winning the under-11 competition at just 8 years old.

Two years later at the age of 10 years old, she set the record for youngest-ever competitor at the 2018 World Team Table Tennis Championships.

She went on to play in the 2018 Asian Junior Table Tennis Championship and claimed a Silver medal, solidifying herself as the first international table tennis medalist for Maldives. After she had turned 11 in 2018, she went on to play at the 2018 Indian Ocean Island Games and won three Gold medals across singles, doubles and women’s team events.

Fast forward to 2021 at the Islamic Solidarity Games, Dheema went on to win Bronze in the table tennis Team event.

She placed third for the Sportswoman of the Year, Most Promising Young Athlete of the Year Award and Best Sportswoman in Table Tennis in the 2021 Maldives Sports Awards. In 2022, 2023 and 2024 of the Maldives Sports Awards, Dheema won Sportswoman of the Year, Most Promising Young Athlete of the Year Award and Best Sportswoman in Table Tennis.

During the 2023 Indian Ocean Island Games, Dheema won three Gold medals across the Singles, Women’s Doubles and Team events and Bronze in the Mixed Doubles event in the 2023 Indian Ocean Island Games.

She claimed another historic milestone by winning the Singles event at the South Asian Qualification Tournament which made her qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics, making her the first person to ever qualify for the Olympics from Maldives.

Another young player who has stepped into the world of table tennis, Akhyar Ahmed Khalid won his first men's singles title at the 2024 National Table Tennis Championship by beating Moosa Munsif Ahmed.

In 2024, he competed in the South Asian Youth Table Tennis Championship and won a Silver medal in the Under-19 Mixed Doubles Category and a Bronze medal in the Under-19 Men’s Doubles category.

Akhyar was part of the table tennis team where Maldives defeated Sri Lanka at a regional level for the first time during the 2025 South Asian Qualifiers for the World Championships. He was also part of the Maldives men’s team that claimed the first-ever South Asian medal.

Table tennis in Maldives is seeing a number of talented youth and seasoned veterans put themselves on the map on both local and international stages.

The sudden surge in top-tier table tennis athletes in Maldives speaks not only to the dedication and spirit of the athletes themselves, but also to the institutions that are willing to train them, place faith and belief in them as well.