Singapore Rally Past United States 3-2 to Top Group 14

Singapore did not win by looking comfortable. It won by answering pressure twice, and that is what separated the teams moving on from the ones tightening up at London 2026.

The United States struck first in Group 14 when Kanak Jha beat Josh Chua 3-0, controlling the early exchanges and putting Singapore on the back foot. Singapore steadied immediately. Izaac Quek thrashed Nandan Naresh to level the tie, Koen Pang then beat veteran Jishan Liang in straight games to put Singapore ahead, and when Jha dragged the Americans back with a 3-1 win over Quek, Chua returned for the decider and finished the job with a 3-0 victory over Naresh. The 3-2 result sent Singapore to the top of the group and strengthened its position in a race that also included Côte d’Ivoire and Angola.

That kind of swing defined Day 3 at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals London 2026, where the group stage was still sorting out who would reach Stage 2 and who would be left behind. The event runs from 28 April to 10 May across Copper Box Arena and OVO Arena Wembley, with 64 men’s teams and 64 women’s teams spread through Stage 1B group play, Stage 1A seeded group play and then the knockout rounds. In that format, the teams already qualified from Groups 1 and 2 had breathing room. The rest did not.

Hong Kong, China showed the value of striking first. Baldwin Chan upset Quadri Aruna 3-1 to set the tone in Group 15, then Wong Chun Ting and Lam Siu Hang closed out Nigeria 3-0 with straight-games wins over Olajide Omotayo and Taiwo Mati. With South Africa and Saudi Arabia also in the group, the clean sweep gave Hong Kong, China a fast lane toward Stage 2 and removed any need for late calculations.

Italy produced the women’s result that cut through the day’s noise. In Group 13, Italy stunned Croatia 3-0, a result that made the Italians a strong favorite to qualify from a group that also included Austria, Malaysia and Togo. It was the sort of performance that mattered beyond the scoreline: no wobble, no rescue act required, just three matches won before pressure could build.

That was the real story in London. The teams that advanced were not just the ones with recognizable names. They were the ones that handled the first punch, trusted their order, and kept their level when every rubber carried knockout-stage consequences.