Romania edge Egypt 3-2 to reach World Team quarters in London

Romania nearly threw away control, then clawed it back at the exact moment it mattered most. Bernadette Szocs gave the Romanians a clean opening, Egypt answered twice, and Andreea Dragoman finally closed out a 3-2 Round of 16 escape over Hana Goda’s dangerous side to send Romania into the quarterfinals at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London.

The win came inside a tournament built for pressure. London 2026 is the centenary edition of the world championships, marking 100 years since the first ITTF World Table Tennis Championships were staged in England in 1926. The event runs from 28 April to 10 May across OVO Arena Wembley and Copper Box Arena, with 64 men’s teams and 64 women’s teams in the draw. By the end of the Round of 16, the women’s quarterfinal line-up was complete, and Romania had earned its place the hard way.

Szocs started like a player intent on preventing trouble before it could breathe. She beat Dina Meshref 3-0, 11-9, 11-6, 11-8, giving Romania the first point and immediate control of the tie. Egypt punched back through Hana Goda, the teenage star who kept finding answers when the tie threatened to tilt away from her side. Goda upset Andreea Dragoman 3-2, 11-8, 5-11, 4-11, 11-6, 2-11, flipping the tone of the match and exposing how quickly momentum can swing in team table tennis.

Romania briefly steadied itself when Elizabeta Samara beat Farida Badawy 3-0, 14-12, 11-6, 11-7. But the tie still was not settled. Goda returned and again dragged Romania into deep water, beating Szocs 3-1, 6-11, 11-6, 9-11, 7-11, and forcing the fifth rubber with Egypt level and the pressure fully back on Romania.

Dragoman’s response was the difference between a headline loss and a narrow escape. After her earlier defeat to Goda, she came back to beat Meshref 3-2, 17-19, 11-6, 6-11, 11-9, 11-8, restoring Romania’s nerve at the decisive point of the tie. It was the kind of finish that keeps a campaign alive, but it also underlined the flaw beneath the result: Romania were pushed to the brink by an Egyptian lineup that never folded.

That matters because Romania had already survived another close test in London, beating the Netherlands 3-0 in the earlier knockout round. The score line suggested authority, but the Egypt tie told the fuller story. Romania are through, yet the margin for error has already shrunk, and the tougher quarterfinal stage will punish any repeat of the same wobble.