England fell to a second successive defeat at the World Team Championships in Busan as second seeds Germany eased to a 3-0 victory.

England opted to rest Liam Pitchford, meaning Sam Walker opened up against 2022 European champion Dang Qiu, who started pulling away from 5-4 in the first, winning 12 of the next 16 points to take the first and break the back of the second.

A run of seven out of eight points then put him in charge of the third and he went on to complete a 3-0 (8, 5, 5) victory.

Tom Jarvis then took on Dimitrij Ovtcharov and held his own against his illustrious opponent, twice an Olympic singles bronze medallist.

Jarvis actually had a point to take the opening game, but Ovtcharov took three points in a row to win that won, and then opened a 6-1 lead on his way to taking the second 11-7.

The third was closer, but the German brought up three match points. Although Jarvis saved two, a timeout did the trick Ovtcharov as he took his next chance.

Patrick Franziska was the opponent for Paul Drinkhall and he struck first as seven successive points won him the first 11-4. But Drinkhall hit back, pinching the second 11-9 with a run of three points.

A couple of runs of four points helped Franziska win the third and when he led the fourth 6-0, it was almost all over. Drinkhall did save two match points, but it was not enough.

The defeat leaves England third in the group with Saudi Arabia to play tomorrow (11am UK time). Victory, combined with a win for USA over Kazakhstan, would see England through in third place in the group. If Kazakhstan beat USA and England win, there would be a three-way countback to decide two qualifying places behind the unbeaten Germans.

Results

Group 2
Germany 3 England 0
Dang Qiu bt Sam Walker 3-0 (11-8, 11-5, 11-5)
Dimitrij Ovtcharov bt Tom Jarvis 3-0 (12-10, 11-7, 11-9)
Patrick Franziska bt Paul Drinkhall 3-1 (11-4, 9-11, 11-5, 11-4)