China storm back past Japan to claim record 24th women’s title

China did what China so often does in the sport’s biggest team moment: it absorbed a punch, reset, and then hit back harder. Trailing Japan 1-2 in the women’s world final at OVO Arena Wembley, China ripped off the last two rubbers to win 3-2 and secure a record 24th women’s team title, extending a dynasty that still owns the Corbillon Cup.

Miwa Harimoto gave Japan the opening jolt by beating Wang Manyu, and she did it with the kind of poise that makes a 17-year-old look far older than her age. Harimoto attacked Wang’s forehand early, built a two-game lead and, when Wang dragged the match into a decider, stayed composed enough to close it out and put Japan ahead. That mattered because it forced China to play from behind against a rival that had already won three straight sets of pressure in the final.

Sun Yingsha changed the temperature immediately. She beat Hina Hayata to level the tie, a straight-up response that stopped Japan from turning the opening edge into a stranglehold. Sun’s win also reinforced why China remains so hard to break in team play: if one rubber tilts the wrong way, another superstar is waiting to drag the match back to even. Japan regained control when Honoka Hashimoto used her defensive game to upset Kuai Man and make it 2-1, leaving China with no margin for error.

Wang answered like a champion. She beat Hayata in straight games to square the final again, and the momentum never really left China after that. Sun later finished the job against Harimoto, while the ITTF said China’s women completed a record 24th world team title and an 18th consecutive win over Japan in a world team final, a run stretching back to the early 1970s. Sun also finished the tournament unbeaten, the sort of stat that tells you who owned the podium moments when the pressure was highest.

The setting made the result feel even larger. London 2026 was the centenary edition, staged 100 years after the first World Championships in the city in 1926, with the women’s team event featuring 64 nations before shifting from Copper Box Arena to Wembley for the knockout rounds. The draw at The Shard in January had already framed it as a return that came full circle, and China made sure the ending looked familiar: Japan pushed, China absorbed, China finished, and the biggest team trophy in table tennis stayed where it has lived so often before.