England women once again acquitted themselves well but came away empty-handed as they were defeated by France at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals London 2026 Presented by ACN.

Playing their final match of Group 2 at OVO Arena Wembley, England sent out Ella Pashley in the No 1 positions to face Prithika Pavade, ranked almost 450 places above her in the world at No 28.

But Pashley (WR 475) competed well after a slow start which saw her lose the first four points of the match, later going on a run of five points out of six herself before losing the first 11-9.

She briefly led the second, but Pavade won five in a row from 6-5 to secure the game. Both athletes led the third and Pavade brought up two match points, which Pashley saved. But the third was taken and France led.

The gap between Tin-Tin Ho (WR 160) and Jia Nan Yuan (WR 24) was not as wide and Ho, who has looked in good touch, led 1-0 and 2-1, taking the first and third games 11-9, including recovering a 7-3 deficit in the third.

Yuan levelled again and largely stayed ahead in the decider, with Ho always in touch. The score inched up to 9-9 and Yuan then saw a match point saved. But Ho could not engineer a chance of her own and fell to the next match point.

Tianer Yu has not yet hit her best form and gave up 236 places to world No 54 Charlotte Lutz. Yu had an opening at 8-6 up in the second but ultimately was defeated 3-0 (5, 8, 3).

Photos by Michael Loveder