China routs ROK to finish unbeaten in women's group stage at World Team Table Tennis Championships

China wrapped up the women's group stage at the 2026 ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships with a flawless record, sweeping past the Republic of Korea 3-0 without dropping a single game on Sunday in London.

World No. 1 Sun Yingsha set the tone right away, dispatching Kim Na-yeong 11-8, 11-4, 11-5. Wang Yidi followed suit, comfortably crushing Park Ga-hyeon 11-5, 11-6, 11-4. Kuai Man then sealed the overall win for China, overcoming Yoo Si-woo 11-6, 11-9, 11-3.

The dominant performance confirmed China's place on top of Group 1, setting up a clash with Poland to open the knockout phase.

It was a different story, however, on the men's side. China fell to Sweden by a nail-biting final margin of 3-2, marking the team's second defeat in the group stage.

Despite needing to battle through a bleeding hand, World No. 1 Wang Chuqin managed to dominate Sweden's Anton Kallberg 11-8, 11-5, 11-6 in the opening match.

Lin Shidong, making his debut, faced a tough challenge against Elias Ranefur. After dropping the first two games 11-9 and 11-6, he stormed back to claim the next two, only to fall in the decider, squandering a 9-7 lead en route to losing 11-9.

The drama continued as Sweden made a strategic substitution, inserting Olympic silver medalist Truls Moregard against Liang Jingkun. After executing valiant efforts to recover from multiple losing positions, and bringing up match point leading 10-9 in the final game, Liang ultimately succumbed 12-10.

Wang was able to rally once again, picking up a second point for China with a solid 12-10, 11-6, 11-4 victory against Ranefur.

But in the crucial deciding match, Kallberg outlasted Lin 12-10, 10-12, 11-8, 11-8, sealing Sweden's third consecutive victory.

After finishing the group stage with a disappointing record of one win and two defeats, the Chinese men's team will face Australia to open the knockout phase.