London Welcomes Final Countdown to World Team Table Tennis Championships

London’s last two-week countdown to the World Team Table Tennis Championships has started with the kind of urgency that only a centenary can bring. The field is locked, the team lists are confirmed, and the best players in the sport are heading to the city that first staged the Worlds 100 years ago.

The numbers alone explain the scale. London 2026 runs from 28 April to 10 May and features 64 men’s teams and 64 women’s teams across 13 days, split between OVO Arena Wembley and Copper Box Arena. Stage 1B opens at Copper Box Arena from 28 April to 1 May, Stage 1A for the top seven seeds plus host nation England is set for OVO Arena Wembley on 2 and 3 May, and the knockout rounds move to Wembley from 4 May. By the time the medals are decided, the event will have moved from group-stage sorting to the kind of elimination pressure that tends to expose every weak serve receive and every shaky doubles pair.

The line-up makes the stakes even sharper. The ITTF said 19 of the top 20 men and the majority of the top 20 women were set to compete in London, and the player lists were confirmed on 13 April. China arrive as the reigning men’s champions, while their women’s team includes the world’s top four players. Among the headline names are Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin for China, Miwa Harimoto for Japan, Truls Moregard for Sweden, Hugo Calderano for Brazil, and France’s Félix and Alexis Lebrun. That is the kind of field that turns an early group match into a test of nerve, not just a warm-up.

The January draw at The Shard set the first road map for the tournament. In the men’s event, China were drawn with England, Sweden and Korea Republic, while France, the last edition’s silver medallists, landed with Japan, Germany and Chinese Taipei. On the women’s side, hosts England were drawn with Japan, Germany and France, while China were grouped with Korea Republic, Chinese Taipei and Romania. Petra Sörling also pointed out that England has hosted the World Championships on seven occasions, a reminder of how rare and symbolic this return really is.

The centenary is being staged beyond the arenas too. Ten gold table tennis tables have gone up across central London, the mascot Ping was introduced on 15 April, and the campaign is tying elite competition to a broader message about participation and community access. Tickets, meanwhile, have been moving fast, with day passes sold out and finals sessions running low by mid-April. London is not just hosting another international event; it is setting the stage for a once-in-a-century homecoming.