The pressure and the passion have been ramping up on Day Three of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals London 2026 Presented by ACN.

Head to WTT YouTube channel for live streaming of every table throughout the championships.

Watch post-match interviews from Day Two on the Table Tennis England YouTube channel.

With countries playing their second, and in some cases third, matches of Stage 1b at the Copper Box Arena today, we now have a clearer picture of who will be heading to OVO Arena Wembley to join the eight seeded nations.

Group winners go straight through to Stage 2 at Wembley, along with the six best second-placed nations. The other eight countries which finish in runners-up slots face a play-off round on Friday, with the four winners heading across London and the losers heading home.

In the Men’s Team, Denmark, Portugal and DPR Korea all made it through without dropping a match.

In the contest to determine qualification from the group stage, Luka Mladenovic (LUX) saved several match points to win the fourth game 22-20 in his match against Dimitrije Levajac (SRB), the highest game score of the competition so far, but he could not fend off the Serb in the deciding fifth game, and Serbia went through.

Brazil’s Hugo Calderano, the highest ranked player on duty, remains undefeated with six wins to his name.

Tahiti (PYF) player Hugo Gendron suffered an injury during his match, went for a medical time out and returned to the court to finish the match. Tahiti lost to Chile 0-3 in the team’s first appearance since 2001.

Fijian Wang Qi made his World Championships debut at the age of 73, although it was a 3-0 defeat for both him and his nation at the hands of Cameroon.

In the Women’s Team, Kazakhstan (#37) overcame Czechia (#42) in the closest decider of the day, 14-12 in the final game of the final match. Both Kazakh teams go through the group stage, a positive start for next year’s hosts.

There was also a first ever Women’s Team victory for Angola. Making their World Team Championships debut, they defeated late arrivals Ghana, who missed their first match due to visa issues, 3-2.

Wembley ready to enter the Championships

Meanwhile, the top-ranked nations and hosts England have been training at OVO Arena Wembley ahead of Stage 1a, which starts on Saturday morning.

It is the final preparation for the likes of defending champions China, European champions France men and Germany women, and the other top-seven ranked nations as they prepare to face off to decide the eight seeded positions in the last 32 draw.

Hosts England start with two huge matches on Saturday as their women meet Japan and the men face China – see the video below for exclusive behind-the-scenes footage.

What is happening on Day Four?

There are still plenty of ‘live’ issues on the last day of Stage 1b at the Copper Box Arena. Stats guru Matt Solt has crunched the numbers – here’s what’s been decided and what is still to be settled.

Women’s teams

• Group 16 – Slovakia is safe even if they lose to Madagascar, Chile and Switzerland must fight for the other spot.
• Group 15 – Singapore is safe (WO over Ethiopia), Hungary and Greece must fight for the other spot.
• Group 14 – Austria is safe (WO over Ghana), Croatia and Turkey must fight for the other spot.
• Group 13 – Italy is safe even if they lose to Argentina, Croatia and Turkey must fight for the other spot.
• Group 12 – if USA beat Dominican Republic then Malaysia will qualify second behind them, as they have a WO against Namibia.
• Group 11 – Australia and Wales compete for the top position in the group.
• Group 10 – if Portugal beat Guatemala then Luxembourg will qualify second behind them, as they have a WO against Barbados.
• Group 9 – if DPR Korea beat Spain then Poland will qualify second behind them, as they have a walkover against Congo.
• Group 8 – Serbia 1st, Thailand 2nd
• Group 7 – Sweden 1st, Canada 2nd
• Group 6 – India 1st, Ukraine 2nd
• Group 5 – Brazil 1st, Kazakhstan 2nd
• Group 4 – Hong Kong 1st, Netherlands 2nd
• Group 3 – Egypt 1st, Belgium 2nd

Men’s teams

• Group 16 – Canada is safe even if they lose to Fiji, Belgium and Cameroon must fight for the other spot (10:00, Table 11 & 12)
• Group 15 – Still up in the air
• Group 14 – Singapore is safe (WO over Cote d’Ivoire), USA and Angola must fight for the other spot.
• Group 13 – Austria is safe (WO over Togo), Italy and Malaysia must fight for the other spot.
• Group 12 – Poland 1st, Moldova 2nd.
• Group 11 – Kazakhstan is safe even if they lose to Thailand, Egypt and Turkey must fight for the other spot.
• MT Group 10 – Korea DPR 1st, Australia 2nd
• MT Group 9 – Romania 1st, Argentina 2nd
• MT Group 8 – Croatia 1st, Serbia 2nd
• MT Group 7 – India 1st, Slovak Republic 2nd
• MT Group 6 – Portugal 1st, Greece 2nd
• MT Group 5 – Spain 1st, Slovenia 2nd
• MT Group 4 – Brazil 1st, Hungary 2nd
• MT Group 3 – Denmark 1st, Mexico 2nd

Pick of the pix

By Sam Mellish