Mixed day for hosts

England picked up victory over Moldova, to advance to the men’s last 16 at ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. Seeing the women’s team exit earlier in the day, it was now all up to the English men to fly the flag for the hosts, and they did an admirable job.

While there was a setback in the opening match featuring Samuel Walker, England recovered well, immediately hitting back through Tom Jarvis, who dispatched Andrei Putuntica 11-5, 11-9, 11-8.

Appearing at his first championships, Connor Green, who narrowly missed out on a big-time shock win over China’s Liang Jingkun in Stage 1A, realised that winning feeling against Moldova, embracing his moment in the spotlight to see off Denis Terna 9-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-2.

On the verge of victory, the England fans inside the arena raised their voice, willing the team on as excitement grew in the stands. Vladislav Ursu threatened to spoil the party, but Jarvis was having none of it, tapping into every last ounce of energy to complete his double 5-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-9, securing the win for the English team.

“It’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever had. I love the World Championships, especially with it being in England. We’ve had tough times as a team recently, so I hope this win can do a lot for us, bring us a lot of confidence. It was amazing to wear the England shirt and play here in London. All the training leading up to it has worked and hopefully we can push on in the last 16,” said Jarvis.

Going late into the night, London nearly bore witness to what would have been one of the biggest twists of the event so far, with Denmark surviving a huge scare to defeat Canada 3-2.

With Simeon Martin and Eugene Wang picking up unexpected wins over Tobias Rasmussen 12-10, 11-13, 16-14, 8-11, 17-15 and Anders Lind 11-3, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6 respectively, the Canadian team began to sense an upset was on the cards. If Edward Ly could follow up in the fifth and final clash, a famous victory would be theirs.

However, their Danish counterparts pulled through in the end thanks to Jonathan Groth, who expertly handled the pressure to deny Ly 11-1, 11-8, 15-13, breaking Canadian hearts at the last.

English women crash out

England’s women’s run in London has ended, as the host nation crashed out in the Round of 32 at the hands of Ukraine.

England’s leading female player, Ho Tin-Tin, was up as she looked to guide her team to a first win at the event in London, after they had lost all three of their Stage 1A fixtures without tasting victory in an individual match. Standing in her way was Tetyana Bilenko, who quickly piled on the pressure by taking the first game, but Tin-Tin recovered to get England off the mark with a 4-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7 win.

Even with the first match in the bag, things looked tricky as Yu Tianer squared off against Margaryta Pesotska, who is ranked more than 200 places above England’s youngster. Pesotska’s experience shone through, as she cruised through 11-5, 11-6, 11-6. 

The 17-year-old Ella Pashley then stepped up to the table and gave a spirited performance against Veronika Matiunina, losing each game by the narrowest of margins 11-9, 11-9, 11-9 as Ukraine took a 2-1 lead.

Needing a win to force a deciding fifth game, England called on Tin-Tin again, as Pesotska went to the table eyeing a spot in the Round of 16. There wasn’t to be a fairytale ending for England this time, as Pesotska sealed the deal 11-4, 11-7, 11-8.

While home fans will be disappointed that their heroes’ time at OVO Arena Wembley ends tonight, they were treated to two matches that went the full distance, as Hong Kong, China’s women and Croatia’s men both survived scares to progress.

Croatia looked in cruise control as Andrej Gacina opened proceedings with a 11-9, 11-3, 11-7 win over John Oyebode, and Tomislav Pucar then doubled the lead, beating Matteo Mutti 11-3, 11-8, 11-7. 

But Italy came roaring back, as Danilo Faso, ranked World No.321, took down World No.152 Ivor Ban 11-6, 11-5, 8-11, 12-10. The 15-year-old Faso showed nerves of steel as he saved two Game Points to stop the match from going to a decider. 

That win lit a fire under the Italians, and another huge victory followed as Oyebode made up for his loss by coming from behind twice to beat Pucar and force a fifth match for a spot in the Round of 16 and take a 8-11, 11-6, 7-11, 14-12, 11-7 win.

The drama continued as Mutti saved game point to draw first blood in the final match, but Gacina sighed a breath of relief as he pushed Croatia over the line, winning 10-12, 11-7, 11-5, 11-6.

There were similar scenes over on Table 2 as Hong Kong, China were made to work for the win over Wales. Doo Hoi Kem didn’t panic as Danielle Kelly levelled in Game Two and quickly restored order to win 11-5, 6-11, 11-5, 11-4. 

Anna Hursey got Wales back on track with her fifth individual win at this event, taking down Su Tsz Tung 9-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-4. Unranked Charlotte Carey then came close to giving Wales an unexpected lead, scuppering match point in a five-game thriller against 2024 silver medallist Ng Wing Lam, who won 8-11, 12-10, 11-4, 8-11, 12-10.

Game four saw both sides’ best players step up to the table, and youngster Hursey got the most convincing win so far, beating Doo 15-13, 11-6, 14-12.

Wales were moments away from a historic victory, but Tsz Tung was ready to make amends and swept aside Kelly 11-7, 11-7, 11-8 to give Hong Kong, China the win.