ITTF WTTTC Finals London 2026, 4/28-5/10

[Janard]

Is Nagasaki injured? She's like the CXT of JPN.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

anyone know why Yuan Wan of GER did not even play once in this tourney despite being present. Is she there as practice / sparring partner?

And what happen to Shan Xiona? Not part of this entourage it seems.

 

[zeio]

Can QD not complain every frigging time? Rather, reflect on why he comes up short every frigging time when it matters.

Medaillentraum geplatzt: Japans Herren gelingt die Revanche (Medal dreams shattered: Japan's men achieve revenge)
https://www.tischtennis.de/news/medaillentraum-geplatzt-japans-herren-gelingt-die-revanche.html

„Wir haben ein gutes Turnier gespielt“, bilanzierte Dang Qiu. „Mit solchen Leistungen kannst du an anderen Tagen weiterkommen, gegen andere Mannschaften sowieso, aber auch gegen die Japaner. Aber heute sollte es nicht sein.“ Einmal mehr stellt sich die Frage nach der Sinnhaftigkeit des für London neu eingeführten Vorrundenmodus, in der die Top-7-Nationen und Gastgeber England an zwei Tagen zunächst die Setzung für die Hauptrunde ausgespielt hatten. „Ich stelle mir die Frage, wieso wir diese Gruppenphase gespielt haben, wenn wir am Ende mit unseren Gruppengegnern Japan und Taiwan in derselben Hälfte landen. Zuerst rauben wir uns unnötig die Kräfte, um dann genau das gleiche Szenario zu haben wie in der Gruppe.“

(“We played a good tournament,” Dang Qiu summarized. “With performances like that, you can advance on other days, against other teams for sure, but also against the Japanese. But it wasn’t meant to be today.” Once again, the question arises as to the logic of the preliminary round format newly introduced for London, in which the top seven nations and hosts England initially played over two days to determine the seeding for the main round. “I ask myself why we played this group stage if we end up in the same half of the draw as our group opponents Japan and Taiwan. First, we unnecessarily waste our energy, only to then face the exact same scenario as in the group stage.”)

 

[zeio]

Is Nagasaki injured? She's like the CXT of JPN.

Well, she has just recovered as she said earlier, so getting to play once is better than water dispensers (well, more like room service) Uda and Shinozuka.

https://weibo.com/6040160273/QEdzpik8a
Moonlight_Rio
26-5-7 08:19
发布于 河南
来自 伦敦🎡iPhone客户端
宇田幸矢：洗衣服的等待时间在咖啡厅☕️🇬🇧✨

https://weibo.com/6040160273/QEh5zaGcH
Moonlight_Rio
26-5-7 17:17
发布于 河南
来自 伦敦🎡iPhone客户端
松岛辉空：@ 宇田幸矢 我会为了拿下奖牌拼尽全力！

 

[zeio]

McDonalds "saves the day" at the end of the day... Poor table tennis players...

https://weibo.com/6040160273/QEmEec9QO
Moonlight_Rio
26-5-8 07:26
发布于 河南
来自 伦敦🎡iPhone客户端
tpe男团赛后去麦当劳聚餐🍔🍟
小莫还入镜了😂

 

[zeio]

Why does this goddamn Togami only play when the big score is 1-1, he has the most experience in the bundesliga out of the whole team also. Man I'm changing my avatar, my idol keeps on failing me times and times again. I hope Tomo and Sora don't feel too much pressure when the script starts to look like Sweden and France all over again

You're not alone. A Weibo user from Taiwan. LOL

https://weibo.com/5384851341/QEiYmlrKx
jongkey_fabulous
26-5-7 22:04
发布于 中国台湾
来自 三星Galaxy S25+
張本智和賽前說甚麼 這次終於有人分擔壓力了
日本媒體吹什麼 最強陣容
結果呢 張本智和自己挖的坑他自己補了
隊友挖的坑還是他要補
我拜託你們日本媒體 吹逼的話就騙張本智和是吧
户上你要是有點良心的話
後面讓宇田跟筱塚上來打
我現在對你真的是噁心
(What did Harimoto Tomokazu say before the match? "Finally, someone to share the pressure"
What did the Japanese media hype up? "The strongest lineup"
And what happened? Harimoto dug his own hole and had to clean it up himself
He also had to clean up the hole his teammates dug
I beg you Japanese media, when you hype things up, you're really just conning Harimoto, right?
Togami, if you have any conscience at all
Let Uda and Shinozuka play from here on
I'm truly disgusted by you now)

 

[M51]

Depressing. An athlete shouldn't be seen anywhere near junk food. This is literally poison.

 

[dewnyc]

Pesotska not playing for Ukraine vs Japan.
Japan going with Hashimoto, Harimoto, Hayata.
Bilenko will be at #3 and won’t face Hashimoto, which could’ve gone to expedite.
I think this is Dmytrenko’s first match of the tournament, vs Honoka.

 

[driversbeat]

anyone know why Yuan Wan of GER did not even play once in this tourney despite being present. Is she there as practice / sparring partner?

And what happen to Shan Xiona? Not part of this entourage it seems.

Wan Yuan played the third tie against England. Unfortunately she's just not as reliable as her teammates for more important matches. Hopefully Germany will find more use for her in doubles XT.

 

[dewnyc]

Dmytrenko had a 9-8 lead in the first game, before HH won 3 points in a row to take the game

 

[M51]

Anton Kallberg is the biggest disappointment of this tournament for me so far.

He really sh1t the bed against the Taiwanese kid. Truls was in a visibly irritated state of mind when he played him in match 4, and he still brought it home routinely.

Don't mind me, just speaking as a fan feeling let down.

 

[Bran]

McDonalds "saves the day" at the end of the day... Poor table tennis players...

Local produce and British gastronomy at its finest. 👨‍🍳

This team of youngsters managed their transition very well after CCY, and despite KCJ dropping off the radar, presumably for injuries.

 

[dewnyc]

Similar to the first match, matiunina had an 8-8 (and 9-10) score in the first game against Miwa

 

[zeio]

Deutsche Damen sichern sich im Hongkong-Krimi die WM-Medaille
https://www.tischtennis.de/news/deutsche-damen-sichern-sich-im-hongkong-krimi-die-wm-medaille.html

Gegen Hongkong steuerte Sabine Winter zwei Punkte bei, Ying Han gewann eine Marathon-Schlacht. Annett Kaufmann kassierte an Position drei die einzige Niederlage. "Es ist ein Riesending, im Halbfinale zu sein. Beim Matchball in meinem zweiten Einzel ging mir nur durch den Kopf: Mach jetzt den Punkt, damit wir diese schöne Medaille haben", sagte Europas Beste, Sabine Winter. "Es war ein unglaublich knappes 3:1. Das hätte genauso gut 0:3 ausgehen können, wenn es ein bisschen unglücklich läuft. Wir haben um jeden Ball gekämpft, sind immer drangeblieben."

(5,000
Against Hong Kong, Sabine Winter contributed two points, while Ying Han won a marathon battle. Annett Kaufmann suffered the only defeat in the third singles match. "It's a huge deal to be in the semifinals. When I had match point in my second singles match, all I could think about was: Get that point now so we can have this beautiful medal," said Europe's best player, Sabine Winter. "It was an incredibly close 3-1. It could just as easily have ended 0-3 if things had gone a bit wrong. We fought for every point and always stayed in the game.")

---

Despite losing, reaching the QF was the target for HKG as DHK revealed the youngsters could get a raise (a higher pay grade) after 3-2 TPE.

https://weibo.com/1998733891/QEdA0orLq
喵11喵11喵
05月07日 08:21 来自 iPhone 14

2026年国际乒联伦敦团体世乒赛 中国香港队三比二中国台北队晋级女团八强的赛后采访🎤：我们的小孩可以涨工资啦！
杜凯琹：其实（中国台北队的）她们年纪非常小，都是参加世青赛的年纪，但是我也知道她们很强，在第一阶段就把韩国赢了。我们也是抱着去拼她们的这种状态去打，我觉得今天我的队友特别棒！
我今天第一场跟彭郁涵打，她是比较特别的打法，一边防弧一边正胶，也没有跟她交手过，但是这次看了她几场比赛，都有很好的发挥，第一场就是想着积极主动一点。第二场跟叶伊恬，她也是非常有实力的选手 一开始可能没有找到节奏，到后面2比1领先的时候，其实感觉当时是有一点机会的，自己没有抓住，但是我觉得可能到了决胜局自己稍微没有那么坚定了。
我们很希望可以进入八强，因为我们小孩可以涨工资，这是我们大家一致的目标嘛，现在也算达标，接下来的比赛就可以更好的享受比赛。
cr·央视频 L精神病院派来的猴子的微博视频

---

And to answer Bobrow's question if that was a star during the team introduction, it was the Hong Kong orchid tree (Bauhinia × blakeana), to complement the background music 紫荆花盛开/Bauhinia Flowers in Full Bloom, a song by CCTV News and NetEase Music to commmerate the 25th anniversary of handover of HKG. A demonstration of team unity.

 

[Janard]

Local produce and British gastronomy at its finest. 👨‍🍳

This team of youngsters managed their transition very well after CCY, and despite KCJ dropping off the radar, presumably for injuries.

I read somewhere previously that KCJ was serving his mandatory military service, lest he gets arrested like many of the Taiwanese stars who faked illnesses

 

[Bran]

The HK women's team always seems to transcend themselves during such events.

The players are good but not outstanding, yet they manage to give a lot of trouble to teams that are individually much stronger. They also seem to uphold the tradition of the bright hair dye since Minnie So.

 

[zeio]

CCTV interview of Peter Sorling on the controversy around the WTTC 2026 playing system.

https://weibo.com/5229334406/QEo731AGD
精神病院派来的猴子
26-5-8 11:10
发布于 河南
来自 微博视频号
CCTV5《央视报道》面对乒乓球改革的争议 国际乒联主席索林接受总台记者专访
索林：今年伦敦世乒赛有男女各64支队伍参加，参加的协会共79个，这说明我们国际乒联是一个非常全球化的机构。这也是我们第一次采用64支团体赛制，我们需要不断评估新赛制，不只是参赛队伍的数量，而是整体赛制，然后在28年福冈世乒赛上再看是否要采用同样的赛制。
相比于其它持拍类项目，乒乓球在奥运会中金牌最多，我们感到非常自豪，但如果要继续保持相关性，要占有一席之地，我们不能够仅仅和其它运动项目做比较。我们要吸引从未参加过任何运动的人，包括小朋友，拿起球拍打乒乓球，所以也要吸引球迷们爱上这项运动，我也想象这是国际乒联在每日工作中都非常注重的一部分。
如果回到1926年呢，如果从九位国际乒联的创始人的角度出发，相信他们不会想象到我们会发展的这么好。而且我们从21分制改到现在的11分制，也为男女运动员提供了平等的奖金，这些都是非常重要的改变，我们要为乒乓球运动保驾护航，所做的一切都是为了让乒乓球运动更美好，为下一代创造更美好的未来，为下一个百年创造更美好的未来。 [http://t.cn/AXJBDgtJ] 精神病院派来的猴子的微博视频
(Sorling: This year's World Table Tennis Championships in London had 64 men's and 64 women's teams participating, representing 79 associations. This demonstrates that the ITTF is a highly global organization. This is also the first time we've used a 64-team format. We need to continuously evaluate the new format, not just the number of participating teams, but the overall format, and then see if we should use the same format at the 2028 Fukuoka World Table Tennis Championships.

Compared to other racket sports, table tennis has the most gold medals at the Olympics, which we are very proud of. However, to maintain our relevance and secure our place, we cannot simply compare ourselves to other sports. We need to attract people who have never participated in any sport before, including children, to pick up a racket and play table tennis. Therefore, we also need to attract fans to fall in love with the sport. I imagine this is a crucial part of the ITTF's daily work.

If we go back to 1926, from the perspective of the nine founders of the ITTF, I believe they wouldn't have imagined that we would develop to such a great extent. Furthermore, our change from the 21-point system to the current 11-point system has provided equal prize money for male and female athletes. These are all very important changes. We are committed to protecting and supporting the sport of table tennis. Everything we do is to make table tennis better, to create a better future for the next generation, and to create a better future for the next century.)

---

As an aside, BWF has just approved the change (again) their 21-point system to 15-point system recently.

BWF Members Approve 3×15 Scoring System
https://bwfbadminton.com/news-single/2026/04/25/bwf-members-approve-3x15-scoring-system
Key Changes Under the 3×15 Scoring System
https://bwfbadminton.com/news-single/2026/04/26/key-changes-under-the-3x15-scoring-system

 

[JackJohnson]

The HK women's team always seems to transcend themselves during such events.

The players are good but not outstanding, yet they manage to give a lot of trouble to teams that are individually much stronger. They also seem to uphold the tradition of the bright hair dye since Minnie So.

After ZCZ could not play at this event I was not expecting HKWT to reach QF.

From what zeio said the youngsters get a pay rise now after beating TPE 3-2. Zeio you know what the pay increase will be for those youngsters?

 

[dewnyc]

China with WCQ at 1&4, LSD at 2&5, LJK at 3
Korea with OJS at 1&5, JWJ at 2&4, AJH at 3

 

[returnee]

Sun Yinsgsha clearly using boosted H3, you can tell by the curl close to the edge

This isn’t really the right topic for this observation of mine, but I’d rather write it here while it’s still fresh in my mind.

Let’s make one thing clear right from the start – I have never tuned or boosted rubbers, and I don’t even know exactly how it is properly done. Basically, I don’t have a clearly defined opinion about tuning or boosting rubbers — I’m neither for it nor against it.. However, I do believe that consistency in respecting the rules should apply to all aspects of the game.

Since I am also a referee with many years of experience, it seems ridiculous to me that on one hand we use VAR to check whether a player tossed the ball at 29, 31, or 30.04 degrees on serve, or whether the ball was hidden for 0.02 seconds by the server’s head – and then declare the serve illegal based on VAR – while on the other hand racket control is conducted like this (as the rubber shown in this photo).

Either the rules should be enforced absolutely in every segment, or we should simply allow players to play the best they can.

In my opinion, using VAR for service control is completely pointless if, at the same time, a rubber like this can pass racket inspection.