16 teams selected to compete at ITTF Mixed Team World Cup unveiled

With one month left until the start of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Mixed Team World Cup, the ITTF unveiled the 16 qualified teams for the tournament on Friday.

The 16 teams are Australia, Canada, China, China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Chinese Taipei, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Sweden and the USA.

The Mixed Team World Cup will take place in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province from December 1-8, with host nation China aiming to retain its crown from the inaugural 2023 edition on home soil.

This year's tournament features an innovative three-stage format. In the first stage, the 16 teams will be divided into four groups of four, with the highest-ranked teams placed in different groups. The teams in each group will compete in a complete round-robin format.

In the second stage, the top two teams from each group in the first stage will match up in another round-robin format, with teams that have already met each other in the first stage not facing off again, as their previous results will carry forward instead.

In the third stage, the top four teams in the standings from the second stage will qualify for the knockout phase, featuring both semifinal clashes and placement contests. The semifinal matchups are determined by ranking, with the first-placed team facing the fourth-placed side, while the second-placed team meets the third-placed side. The two winners advance to the championship final, while the two losers head to the bronze medal match.

According to the ITTF, the comprehensive format, totaling 52 matches across all stages, ensures that the eventual champions will have demonstrated both consistency through the round-robin phases and excellence in the knockout stage.

The order of play for the opening three matches will be mixed doubles, women's singles (players not competing in mixed doubles), and men's singles (players not competing in mixed doubles), while the order of the fourth and fifth matches – in women's doubles and men's doubles – will be determined after the first match by the captain of the lower-ranked team.

All individual matches will be played in a best-of-three games format, and team matches end when one side accumulates eight games.