The first quarter-finalists are known at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals London 2026 Presented by ACN.
France and Japan men, and China and Japan women, all safely advanced from the Round of 16, while the only seeds to fall were Chinese Taipei women, defeated 3-2 by Hong Kong China, and England men, defeated 3-2 by Brazil.
Japan women, the second seeds, were the first through, the trio of Miwa Harimoto, Honoka Hashimoto and Hina Hayata outclassing Luxembourg’s Sarah De Nutte, Enisa Sadikovic and Ni Xia Lian without dropping a game.
The first men’s team through were eighth seeds Chinese Taipei. On paper, they had a tough tie against No 9 ranked Denmark, and the matches were well contested before Chinese Taipei went through 3-0.
Feng Yi-Hsin edged out Jonathan Groth having fought back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 (5-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-8, 13-11) on his third match point. Lin Yun-Ju then recovered from losing the first game to Anders Lind to win in four, and it was also four for Kuo Huan-Hong against Tobias Rasmussen.
China men, seeded five, fell behind to Romania as Eduard Ionescu defeated the out-of-form Liang Jingkun 3-0 (11-5, 11-7, 11-6). But Wang Chuqin beat Iulian Chirita 5, 10, 5 and Lin Shidong got past Ovidiu Ionescu 9, 6, 4 to put China in front, and it was then 3-1 (11-8, 8-11, 11-3, 11-4) for Wang against Eduard Ionescu.
The shock result was the last match to finish in the first set of four and saw Hong Kong China send Chinese Taipei out of the tournament.
Doo Hoi Kem beat Peng Yu-Han 3-1 (11-3, 10-12, 11-7, 11-8) to put Hong Kong in front, but Yeh Yi-Tian levelled as she beat Su Tsz Tung 3-2 (9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 6-11, 11-7).
Ng Wing Lam won Match 3 for Hong Kong, 3-1 (6-11, 11-2, 15-13, 11-5) against Chen Szu-Yu, but Yeh completed a double by beating Doo 3-2 (11-5, 8-11, 4-11, 1-9, 11-7). It was left to Su to defeat Peng 3-0 (13-11, 11-9, 11-4) to see Hong Kong China home.
In the second set of four matches today, top seeds China women hurried past Sweden 3-0, conceding no more than seven points in any of the nine games. Wang Manyu was particularly severe on Christina Kallberg in Match 2, winning 11-5, 11-0, 11-3.
Seventh seeds Korea Republic women needed four matches against Singapore, Shin Yubin taking a double including the match-clinching 3-1 (10-12, 11-5, 11-9, 11-8) result against Zeng Jian.
Kazakhstan men, host nation of the Worlds next year, took the first match off fourth seeds Japan as Kirill Gerassimenko upset Sora Matsushima 3-1 (5-11, 11-8, 14-12, 11-7), but then saw Japan hit back to take the next three 3-0, including a double for Tomokazu Harimoto, who sealed the result 3-0 (9, 9, 5) against Gerassimenko.
France men defeated Portugal 3-1 in the quarter-finals two years ago, but this time it was 3-0 to the second seeds in the Round of 16. Alexis Lebrun needed four against Tiago Apolonia, as did Flavien Coton over Joao Geraldo, but it was 3-0 for Felix Lebrun against Marcos Freitas.
Sweden men overcame Croatia with a 3-0 win to continue their run of wins – they’ve only lost three individual matches so far this championships in a 3-1 win over England and their historic 3-2 victory of China.
Tomislav Pucar pushed Anton Kallberg in their 3-1 match which went to the Swede 12-10, 8-11, 11-3, 11-8. Truls Moregard needed five to get past Andrej Gacina as they traded games 11-6, 10-12, 11-9, 6-11, 11-5. Before Elias Ranefur completed the match win by beating Filip Zeljko 3-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-5).
Benedikt Duda got Germany men off to a good start as they beat Hong Kong, China 3-0 to reach the quarter-finals.
Duda overcame Wong Chun Ting 11-7, 7-11, 11-4, 11-4 ahead of Dang Qiu’s 3-0 victory over Baldwin Chan – the German taking the match 11-9, 12-10, 11-7. In the final match, Patrick Franziska came back from losing the first game to Lam Siu Hang to take the match 3-1 (10-12, 11-9, 11-5, 13-11).
Ukraine women saw off a USA fightback in an epic context that last nearly two and three-quarter hours. Having taken the first match 3-0, Ukraine then found themselves on the backfoot and 2-1 down thanks to US wins for Sally Moyland and Lily Zhang.
Margaryta Pesotska returned to the table having won the opening match for Ukraine to overcome Moyland 3-2 (12-14, 11-2, 12-14, 12-10, 11-7) before Veronika Matiunina defeated Jessica Reyes Lai 3-0 to secure the win.
Alongside that match was Romania’s 3-2 win over Egypt, which lasted seven minutes short of three hours.
The two teams traded matches before Andreea Dragoman overcame Dina Meshref in the final match. The Romanian lost an thrilling first match 19-17, before coming back to win the second 11-6. Meshref took match three for Egypt 11-6, before Dragoman won the final two 11-9, 11-8.
Into the evening session, the remaining Round of 16 matches got underway. Three were over in 3-0 clean-sweeps as France women beat Italy, Korea Republic men beat Austria and Germany women beat Korea DPR.
Germany were represented by Annett Kaufmann (who defeated Kim Kum Yong 3-1), Sabine Winter (who defeated Pyon Song Gyong 3-0), and Ying Han (who defeated Su Yong Cha 3-0).
Korea Republic, who had been in imperious form throughout the championship, swept Austria aside as Jang Woojin and An Jaehyun both overcame their opponents 3-0. Oh Junsung had a trickier battle on his hands however as he was taken to five games by Robert Gardos in an 8-11, 11-7, 6-11, 13-11, 11-3 victory.
France completed a relatively straightforward win over neighbours Italy to reach the quarter-finals. Jia Nan Yuan overcame Gaia Monfardini 3-1 (11-9, 11-5, 6-11, 11-7), before Prithika Pavade beat Giorgia Piccolin 3-0 (11-4, 11-2, 11-4) and Charlotte Lutz had the better of Debora Vivarelli (11-5, 11-8, 11-7).
In the final match of the night, Brazil men defeated England to eliminate the host nation. Read more here.
Pick of the pix
By Sam Mellish and Michael Loveder
Women’s quarter-finals
China v Korea Republic (Thursday 7 May 10:00)
Germany v Hong, Kong China (Thursday 7 May 17:00)
Ukraine v Japan (Friday 8 May 10:00)
France v Romania (Friday 8 May 17:00)
Men’s quarter-finals
Germany v Japan (Thursday 7 May 12:30)
Sweden v Chinese Taipei (Thursday 7 May 19:30)
Korea Republic v China (Friday 8 May 12:30)
Brazil v France (Friday 8 May 19:30)