Wales women’s stay at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals London 2026 Presented by ACN ended in the Round of 32 as they were defeated by Hong Kong China at OVO Arena Wembley.

It was a bitter blow as Charlotte Carey (pictured above) was defeated 12-10 in the fifth game of Match 3, with Anna Hursey winning twice.

Danielle Kelly took the first match and was giving up almost 900 places to Doo Hoi Kem, but it did not look like it as she took the second game to level at 1-1.

Her 29-year-old opponent is ranked 35 in the world and has an Olympic team bronze medal from Tokyo 2020, as well as seven World Championships bronzes across Women’s Team and Mixed Doubles. Drawing on that experience, she hit back to complete a 3-1 (11-5, 6-11, 11-5, 11-4) victory.

Match 2 saw Anna Hursey (WR 36) taking on Su Tsz Tung (WR 82) and it was the Hong Kong athlete who edged the first. But Hursey hit back to win the next three relatively comfortably to level it up for Wales – the scoreline 9-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-4).

The pivotal third match saw an agonising defeat for Carey, now unranked and facing up to world No 96 Ng Wing Lam. Carey led, then trailed, and then levelled. He led the decider 9-8 but it was Ng who brought up the first match point. Carey saved it, but could not prevent the second being taken as it finished 3-2 (8-11, 12-10, 11-4, 8-11, 12-10).

Hursey versus Doo was a battle between two players next to each other in the world rankings, and it was evident in a tight first game which Hursey won 15-13, having saved four game points and missed one. She won the second 11-6 and sealed the win in another deuce game, 14-12 on her second match point having saved three game points.

It was a tall order for Kelly to overcome Su and extend Wales’ stay at the Worlds. She again acquitted herself well, but a 3-0 (7, 7, 8) win for Su ended the match in Hong Kong China’s favour.

Today’s other matches

Men’s Team

Hong Kong China advanced as they were too strong for DPR Korea, though most of the games were tight. Wong Chun Ting defeated Ham Yu Song 3-1 (12-10, 5-11, 11-9, 11-6), Baldwin Chan then overcame Ri Jong Sik 3-0 (12-10, 11-9, 11-8) and Lam Siu Hang completed the win with a 3-0 (11-9, 12-10, 11-8) scoreline against U Tae Ryong.

Croatia needed two bites at the cherry to get past Italy, who came from 2-0 down to level the match. Andrej Gacina and Tomislav Pucar beat John Oyebode and Matteo Mutti in three, but Danilo Faso started the comeback by beating Ivor Ban.

Pucar had match points against Oyebode in match four but could not convert as Oyebode won it 3-2 (8-11, 11-6, 7-11, 14-12, 11-7), but Gacina’s win over Mutti in four games got Croatia over the line.

Kazakhstan reached the last 16 with a 3-1 victory over Spain. Alan Kurmangaliyev defeated Alvaro Robles and Kirill Gerassimenko made it 2-0 by seeing off Juan Perez, also in four. Danie Berzosa reduced the arrears by overcoming Aidos Kenzhigulov in four, but Gerassimenko’s 3-0 (7, 9, 4) win put Kazakhstan through.

Japan overcame Belgium, also by a 3-1 scoreline. Sora Matsushima dropped the first end against Adrien Rassenfosse but recovered to win 3-1. Belgium then levelled as Cedric Nuytinck defeated Tomokazu Harimoto, a third defeat in six matches for Harimoto, 3-1 (11-9, 11-8, 5-11, 11-8).

Shunsuke Togami had few real alarms against Martin Allegro and won 8, 4, 8, and Harimoto then came back to form to beat Rassenfosse 3-1 (11-8, 5-11, 11-8, 11-3).

Japan and Kazakhstan will meet in the Round of 16.

Poland took on an exciting Romania team in the only round of session 14 contested between two none top eight sides. Iulian Chirita held out for a fantastic victory over the impressive Milosz Redzimski after the Polish star foughtback from 2-0 down. Marek Badowski of Poland was very impressive in dismantling Edouard Ionescu with a straight games victory including an 11-2 dominant second end. The experience of Ovidiu Ionescu proved too strong for Maciej Kubik as he gave Romania a 2-1 lead. Milosz Redzimski took Edouard Ionescu to force a decider and up stepped Iulian Chirita to take out Badowski and clinch a 3-2 victory.

The ever impressive France were the first match to finish as the youthful Felix Lebrun and Flavien Coton combined with Simon Gauzy to end USA’s run at the 2026 championships. It was the youngster Coton (WR23) who took out USA’s Kanak Jha (WR29) 3-1, before his teammates chipped in with two 3-0 victories.

The final match to finish saw Canada mount an impressive comeback to take Denmark to a fifth match. It looked as if Denmark were coasting when Jonathan Groth and Anders Lind defeated Eugene Wang and Edward Ly respectively, but the match that followed was one of the longest in World Championships history.

The record shows Simeon Martin defeated Tobias Rasmussen 3-2 (12-10, 11-13, 16-14, 8-11, 17-15), saving four match points and clinching the win on this third. The match contained 127 points – just five off the record of 132 for a best-of-five match at the Worlds since 11-up was introduced.

Wang then took down Lind in four games to set up a decider, but Groth was too strong for Ly and won in three, who saved three match points at 10-7 and then missed three game points of his own before Groth took it 15-13, ending the match at 3 hours 13 minutes.

Women’s Team

There was another landmark result against China, but this time in the Women’s Team as Poland’s Natalia Bajor (WR 59) defeated world No 7 Kuai Man 3-1 (3-11, 11-9, 11-9, 15-13).

In doing so, Bajor became the first European to beat a Chinese opponent in the Women’s Team event this century – in fact, since Emilia Ciosu of Romania did so in 1995, against Qiao Hong.

A 3-0 win for Wang Manyu and two for world No 1 Sun Yingsha, including against Bajor in the fourth match, saw China through.

In the Round of 16 China will face Sweden, who knocked out Kazakhstan, the hosts of next year’s World Championships – though not before Zauresh Akasheva (WR 144) had picked up an eye-catching 3-2 (11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 6-11, 12-10) victory over Christina Kallberg (WR 92). A double for Linda Bergstrom and one for Filippa Bergand saw Sweden win 3-1.

The DPR Korea team started their knockout campaign by dismantling Austria, lead by European superstar Sofia Polcanova, but she was defeated by an impressive Pyong Song Gyong 3-0.

Korea Republic were also 3-0 winners, against Canada, and did so without dropping a game, while Germany dropped only one in defeating Malaysia.

It was tougher for Romania in their clash with Netherlands, though ultimately still a 3-0 victory. Berndatte Szocs needed to come from 2-0 down to defeat Britt Eerland 3-2 (9-11, 10-12, 11-9, 11-4, 11-7) and it was also 3-2 for Elizabeta Samara against Li Jie (11-3, 3-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-8). Andreea Dragoman completed the win in three against Tanja Helle.