With GB’s Table Tennis Team for the Rio Paralympics being announced earlier this week and the Olympics fast approaching, Table Tennis has become big news in the UK over the past few weeks.
As players and fans alike are preparing for the event of the years, all eyes are on events like the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships as part of the build up. The ITTF World Table Tennis Championships were held in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia this year and over 178 million people from all over the world watched the fast-paced and competitive games played on world class table tennis tables from their homes.
The England Men’s team enjoyed their most successful World Table Tennis Championship for more than 60 years as they managed to score a bronze medal at the event.
Amongst the England Men’s Players, Liam Pitchford was the most successful of them all with a total of 8 wins and 5 losses, Paul Drinkhall came in second best with 5 wins and 6 losses overall and behind him was Sam Walker with 4 wins and 4 losses.
Seeded 18th, England beat Germany, Denmark and Malaysia to win to get through to the Group stages. The win against Germany was a particularly significant moment for them as Germany’s team were No 2 seeds and all 3 players were higher ranked than any of the England team.
In the last 16 knock-out stage, England beat Poland 3-2. The quarter final opponents for England were France who had beaten England in the preliminary groups. England reversed the result with a 3-2 victory. Once they had reached the semi-finals, they were faced with Japan who defeated them in a 3-1 battle which let England to settle for a bronze medal which they are extremely proud of. England had a real chance of reaching the final to play China after Liam Pitchford was in a winning position in both of his singles matches against much higher ranked opponents.
The stars of the championships were China, whose Men’s team were made up Xu Xin, Ma Long and Zhang Jike. Their team won a gold medal in a 3-0 win against Japan. Similarly, the Women’s team also defeated their opponents in a 3-0 win. Since the World Table Tennis Championships started in 1926, China have collected a whopping grand total of 39 medals.
We’re really looking forward to the upcoming Table Tennis season, especially seeing as the Paralympic and Olympic Games have very strong GB Teams this year. If you’re interested in Table Tennis or fancy getting into the sport itself, check out our Butterfly Table Tennis section on our website or visit the Table Tennis England Website.