Published: May 4, 2026, 07:58 PM
China has lost at the World Team Table Tennis Championships for the first time in 26 years. The last defeat came against Sweden in the World Championship final in 2000. Now South Korea has repeated the feat.
China`s dominance in the World Team Championships is almost total. Since 2001, the nation has captured all the gold medals. On the men`s side, China have been undefeated in matches since their final loss to Sweden in 2000 - when stars like J-O Waldner and Jörgen Persson carried the Swedish team.
But late Saturday night, the unexpected happened.
South Korea came out on top when they defeated China 3-1 in the seeding match. Among them, star Lin Shidong (ranked No. 6 in the world) lost his match. Notably, China`s world No. 1 Wang Chuqin sat out the match.
