Wales women’s stay at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals London 2026 Presented by ACN ended in the Round of 32 as they were defeated by Hong Kong China at OVO Arena Wembley.

It was a bitter blow as Charlotte Carey (pictured above) was defeated 12-10 in the fifth game of Match 3, with Anna Hursey winning twice.

Danielle Kelly took the first match and was giving up almost 900 places to Doo Hoi Kem, but it did not look like it as she took the second game to level at 1-1.

Her 29-year-old opponent is ranked 35 in the world and has an Olympic team bronze medal from Tokyo 2020, as well as seven World Championships bronzes across Women’s Team and Mixed Doubles. Drawing on that experience, she hit back to complete a 3-1 (11-5, 6-11, 11-5, 11-4) victory.

Match 2 saw Anna Hursey (WR 36) taking on Su Tsz Tung (WR 82) and it was the Hong Kong athlete who edged the first. But Hursey hit back to win the next three relatively comfortably to level it up for Wales – the scoreline 9-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-4).

The pivotal third match saw an agonising defeat for Carey, now unranked and facing up to world No 96 Ng Wing Lam. Carey led, then trailed, and then levelled. He led the decider 9-8 but it was Ng who brought up the first match point. Carey saved it, but could not prevent the second being taken as it finished 3-2 (8-11, 12-10, 11-4, 8-11, 12-10).

Hursey versus Doo was a battle between two players next to each other in the world rankings, and it was evident in a tight first game which Hursey won 15-13, having saved four game points and missed one. She won the second 11-6 and sealed the win in another deuce game, 14-12 on her second match point having saved three game points.

It was a tall order for Kelly to overcome Su and extend Wales’ stay at the Worlds. She again acquitted herself well, but a 3-0 (7, 7, 8) win for Su ended the match in Hong Kong China’s favour.

Today’s other matches

Men’s Team

Hong Kong China advanced as they were too strong for DPR Korea, though most of the games were tight. Wong Chun Ting defeated Ham Yu Song 3-1 (12-10, 5-11, 11-9, 11-6), Baldwin Chan then overcame Ri Jong Sik 3-0 (12-10, 11-9, 11-8) and Lam Siu Hang completed the win with a 3-0 (11-9, 12-10, 11-8) scoreline against U Tae Ryong.

Croatia needed two bites at the cherry to get past Italy, who came from 2-0 down to level the match. Andrej Gacina and Tomislav Pucar beat John Oyebode and Matteo Mutti in three, but Danilo Faso started the comeback by beating Ivor Ban.

Pucar had match points against Oyebode in match four but could not convert as Oyebode won it 3-2 (8-11, 11-6, 7-11, 14-12, 11-7), but Gacina’s win over Mutti in four games got Croatia over the line.

Kazakhstan reached the last 16 with a 3-1 victory over Spain. Alan Kurmangaliyev defeated Alvaro Robles and Kirill Gerassimenko made it 2-0 by seeing off Juan Perez, also in four. Danie Berzosa reduced the arrears by overcoming Aidos Kenzhigulov in four, but Gerassimenko’s 3-0 (7, 9, 4) win put Kazakhstan through.

Japan overcame Belgium, also by a 3-1 scoreline. Sora Matsushima dropped the first end against Adrien Rassenfosse but recovered to win 3-1. Belgium then levelled as Cedric Nuytinck defeated Tomokazu Harimoto, a third defeat in six matches for Harimoto, 3-1 (11-9, 11-8, 5-11, 11-8).

Shunsuke Togami had few real alarms against Martin Allegro and won 8, 4, 8, and Harimoto then came back to form to beat Rassenfosse 3-1 (11-8, 5-11, 11-8, 11-3).

Women’s Team

There was another landmark result against China, but this time in the Women’s Team as Poland’s Natalia Bajor (WR 59) defeated world No 7 Kuai Man 3-1 (3-11, 11-9, 11-9, 15-13).

In doing so, Bajor became the first European to beat a Chinese opponent in the Women’s Team event this century – in fact, since Emilia Ciosu of Romania did so in 1995, against Qiao Hong.

A 3-0 win for Wang Manyu and two for world No 1 Sun Yingsha, including against Bajor in the fourth match, saw China through.

Sweden knocked out Kazakhstan, the hosts of next year’s World Championships, though not before Zauresh Akasheva (WR 144) had picked up an eye-catching 3-2 (11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 6-11, 12-10) victory over Christina Kallberg (WR 92). A double for Linda Bergstrom and one for Filippa Bergand saw Sweden win 3-1.