Coaches John Murphy and Carlo Agnello are supervising the final preparations as England’s athletes tune up to arrive at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals London 2026 Presented by ACN in top shape to take on the world’s best.

Squad members have been working at the Elite Training Centre in Sheffield for the past few days – with some travelling to Czechia to compete at the WTT Feeder Havirov.

They will all come together from next week, alongside athletes from India, Australia and Spain, to complete their preparations before heading to OVO Arena Wembley for their first matches on the weekend of 2-3 May.

Both Carlo and John say the chance to play so many big matches in front of a home crowd is something they and the players are relishing.

Carlo will be leading a women’s team which includes three teenagers – Tianer Yu (18), Ella Pashley (17) and 14-year-old Alyssa Nguyen – alongside Tin-Tin Ho and Jasmin Wong.

They face Japan, France and Germany in Stage 1a, which will decide which of the eight seeded positions they will take in the last 32, which starts on Monday 4 May.

It means England are guaranteed at least four matches and Carlo said: “It will be amazing playing Wembley in front of the home crowd and for the players for us it’ll be a nice experience and I hope beneficial for the future – great for a young team to get experience and to grow towards the future.

“It’s amazing just to see the world-class players, be in the practice hall with them, see how they prepare, how they do it and then eventually compete with them. It’s a huge advantage and a big, big part of their development towards the future.

“I think for most of the players, especially on the women’s team, it’s the first time they play a big event. So I think it’ll be an eye opener.”

John leads England men – Tom Jarvis, Connor Green, Sam Walker, Paul Drinkhall and Joseph Hunter – into matches against China, Sweden and Korea Republic to decide where they will be placed in the last 32.

He said: “I think it’s a huge opportunity for the athletes selected, firstly to play in London in front of their family and a home crowd, and then to have an opportunity to play so many matches against top teams.

“Normally you might get one opportunity at a World Championships, two if you win. Here we play in a group of four where we know they’re matches that we can enjoy, try to gauge where we are against the best in the world, knowing that we’re going to take our place in the knockout anyway. And I think that’s where really the pressure part of the tournament will start.

“I think as a nation, we should look at these World Championships as an opportunity to pit ourselves against the best players in the world, gauge our level, try to take some really big scalps, try to get into the knockout stage in the best possible shape, where we know that we will play a team coming (from the qualifying stage), that is absolutely a winnable match.”

John is looking forward to the intensity ramping up next week as the other nations join the preparations.

He said: “I think it will get quite hot during that week and the athletes will be very well prepared for London.

“For us, it’s trying to make the environment leading into the championships, especially the last two or three weeks that we get together as a team and find our ethos. I think that’s really crucial for us as coaches.”

Carlo added: “Especially towards the end of the preparation, we need to manage the players individually, make sure everyone’s ready.

“The atmosphere and the team fighting for each other is crucial if you want to make good results, as was proven by the England men’s team in the past. We’re very fortunate that the players get along very good.”

John agreed the team ethos is spot on, adding: “I think we have a great-natured group of players, both men and women. I think they are no strangers to this environment.

“We’ve people like Paul Drinkhall and Sam Walker, who have won World championship medals and we’ve got Joe Hunter and Alyssa just being brought into the team. I think we’ve got a great blend of youth and experience. And they create a great atmosphere themselves.

“We’ve got great staff like Carlo and Gav (Director of Performance Development Gavin Evans) leading the team. So we never worry about the team environment, and we know that from that perspective we’ll give our best in London.”