The last 16 line-up is now locked in at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals London 2026 Presented by ACN.

Hosts England men will face Brazil, including superstar Hugo Calderano, at 7.30pm on Wednesday as they bid to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since their bronze medal in Kuala Lumpur 10 years ago.

Izaac Quek put Brazil’s opponents Singapore ahead by defeating Leonardo Iizuka in four, but two victories for Calderano, either side of Guilherme Teodoro’s win over Josh Chua, saw Brazil through.

Today’s other matches

Men’s Team

China, seeded five, returned to winning ways after their first defeats in this competition for 26 years, to Korea Republic and Sweden in Stage 1a.

It was 3-0 all the way for the trio of Liang Jingkun, Wang Chuqin and Lin Shidong against Australia, with world No 1 Wang especially quick in getting the better of Aditya Sareen 11-9, 11-1, 11-2.

Top seeds Sweden maintained their momentum by beating Hungary 3-0 in a match between two nations which have won this title 17 times between them. Csaba Andras took a game off Anton Kallberg.

Third seeds Korea Republic also had a 3-0 victory, over Slovak Republic, though Oh Junsung was extended by Lubomir Pistej, whom he beat 3-2 (11-7, 11-7, 7-11, 8-11, 11-7) in Match 1.

Germany, the sixth seeds,were 3-0 winners over Slovenia with only Darko Jorgic taking a game, against Patrick Franziska.

Portugal kept their hopes alive with a 3-0 victory over Egypt, all decided in three or four games, while it was also 3-0 for Austria against India, though Manav Thakkar took Robert Gardos the distance in the first match, Gardos taking it 3-2 (6-11, 11-7, 11-3, 8-11, 13-11).

Eighth seeds Chinese Taipei were 3-0 winners over Serbia, for whom Dimitrije Levajac took the only game, from Lin Yun-Ju.

Women’s Team

Italy reached the last 16 for the first time since 2008 as they eliminated Portugal. They had to recover from losing the first match, in which Fu Yu’s fine comeback saw her beat Gaia Monfardini 3-2 (11-9, 11-7, 3-11, 7-11, 5-11).

Georgia Piccolin levelled as she also came from 2-0 behind against Jieni Shao, Piccolin taking it 3-2 (8-11, 4-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9). Debora Vivarelli and Monfardini then both won in four, against Matilde Pinto and Shao respectively.

Luxembourg missed a match point in Match 4 but still went through in the deciding rubber against Brazil. The middle three matches were all 3-2. Ni Xia Lian levelled for Luxembourg by beating Giulia Takahashi 9-11, 12-10, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8 and Enisa Sadikovic put them in front as she edged Laura Watanabe 11-9, 11-13, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7).

Bruna Takahashi, who had earlier defeated Sarah De Nutte in Match 1, then saved a match point against Ni before triumphing 3-2 (11-5, 11-9, 8-11, 10-12, 12-10) – but De Nutte put her nation into the last 16 as she beat Takahashi in three.

Second seeds Japan remain on course for a sixth consecutive gold medal match against China after a 3-0 victory over Croatia.

It was all 3-0 in the individual matches too and Rin Mende concluded the match after only 70 minutes as she defeated Andrea Pavlovic 11-1, 11-2, 11-9.

Another perfect performance was by sixth seeds France, whose trio of Prithika Pavade, Jia Nan Yuan and Charlotte Lutz did not concede more than seven points in a game as they advanced at Switzerland’s expense.

Serbia took the lead against Singapore, but saw their opponents hit back to take the next three, sealed by Zeng Jian’s 3-2 (11-9, 6-11, 13-15, 11-6, 13-11) win over Sabina Surjan.

Adriana Diaz won her two matches for Puerto Rico against fifth seeds Chinese Taipei, but her colleagues could not add the all-important third victory as the Asian nation went through.

Sally Moyland was at the double for the USA, beating India’s Yashaswini Ghorpade and Manika Batra which, coupled with Lily Zhang’s win over Diya Chitale, saw the Americans advance 3-1.

Hana Goda’s double for Egypt against Slovak Republic helped Egypt into the last 16 with a 3-2 scoreline, a result finished off by Dina Meshref in the final match against Tatiana Kukulkova.

Pick of the pix

By Michael Loveder and Sam Mellish