World Team Table Tennis Championships 2026: India women edge Ukraine; men rally to beat Slovakia

Both Indian men’s and women’s players maintained their perfect start to the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships 2026 by winning their second group ties in the tournament at the OVO Arena Wembley, in London, England, on Wednesday.

The Indian women’s team beat Ukraine 3-2, while the men overcame Slovakia by the same scoreline.

In their opening matches at the World Team Table Tennis Championships 2026, the Indian women received a walkover from Uganda, while the men blanked Tunisia 3-0.

World No. 48 Manika Batra handed India the perfect start by defeating Olympian Tetyana Bilenko 3-1 (11-9, 7-11, 11-6, 11-5).

Yashaswini Ghorpade, 61st in the table tennis rankings, was up next and produced a spirited fightback from two games down before narrowly losing 3-2 (11-7, 11-8, 1-11, 9-11, 11-9) to world No. 51 Margaryta Pesotska.

Diya Chitale then restored India’s advantage with a 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-6) victory against Veronika Matiunina.

With India closing in on victory, Manika Batra returned for her second rubber but went down 3-1 (11-9, 5-11, 11-8, 11-6) to Margaryta Pesotska, who was also playing her second match of the tie.

The decider saw Yashaswini Ghorpade rise to the occasion as she returned for her second rubber to seal the tie for India with a composed 3-1 (11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7) win over Tetyana Bilenko.

The Indian women’s team will take on Rwanda in their final Stage 1b Group 6 match on Thursday.

In the men’s encounter, world No. 51 Manush Shah lost 3-2 (11-8, 5-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-6) against Lubomir Pistej before world No. 38 Manav Thakkar drew India level with a 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-6) win over Jakub Zelinka.

Slovakia took the lead again after Asian Games medallist Harmeet Desai was beaten 3-0 (16-14, 11-5, 11-9) by Olympian Yang Wang but Manav Thakkar returned for his second rubber and pushed the tie into a decider with a 3-0 (11-3,11-3,11-3) win against Lubomir Pistej.

Manush Shah then sealed the tie with a composed 3-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-7) win against Jakub Zelinka.

The Indian men’s team will take on Guatemala in their final Stage 1b Group 7 match.

A total of 64 teams - divided into 16 groups of four - are participating in each of the men’s and women’s events.

Click here to read article