On the second day of play at the 2022 ITTF World Team Championships Finals in Chengdu teams Poland and France recorded wins in both Men’s and Women’s Events. In Group 5 Men Poland is at the top with Sweden with two wins each. In the last remaining match in group stage they will meet each other. Poland maintain their perfect record with a 3-0 win over Australia. Samuel KULCZYCKI Milosz REDZIMSKI and Maciej KUBIK overcame Dillon CHAMBERS Nicholas LUM and Finn LUU. Only REDZIMSKI faced pressure in full five games duel against LUM. KULCZYCKI and KUBIK both resolved their matches in straight games. “We are very happy because we won two matches. We pass the group now with the question if we were the number one or two in the group. But now we have won the two matches I feel very happy ” said KULCZYCKI. KUBIK added: “We just practiced today and now we will have a rest. Also we will prepare strategy for the next adversary.” Sweden accounted for England in four matches duel. Liam PITCHFORD suffered his first defeat against Truls MOREGARDH. “We played a great match. 3-1 of England is very good. PITCHFORD is the number one so it’s always thought to be very happy with that. Pitchford was very strong. It’s not an easy situation. So we’re very satisfied and I’m looking forward for the next match into this ” said MOREGARDH. Liam PITCHFORD was the only to score for England in the match against Anton KALLBERG but he lost to Truls in fourth match. Kristian KARLSSON beat David MCBEATH. Team France defeated Kazakhstan 3-0 led by young LEBRUN brothers. Felix defeated Kirill GERASSIMENKO in the opening duel of the match. “My coach said to us that we would change the players today so I knew it and didn’t surprise to start this morning. I feel stressed after the beginning of the match just a bit “stated Felix. His brother Alexis defeated Denis ZHOLUDEY whilst Emmanuel LEBESSON beat Aidos KENZHIGULOV “Our next two opponents will be Germany and India in this order. I think both of these matches would be hard for us. We will have tomorrow a great day. So we will have more practice before playing Germany after tomorrow. So we know again Japanese could be a big fight. We will try to do our best and we will see which position we can stay in from the group and hope to a minimum to catch one of these two games ” said LEBESSON. In Women’s Event Poland beat Uzbekistan in long distance match. Katarzyna WEGRZYN: “It was a very tough game for us but we are very happy that we managed to do it. For the next matches we will do our best and we hope to play good matches. Chengdu is a very nice place and everything is fine. The organization is very good and we enjoy being here.” Anna WEGRZYN beat both Markhabo MAGDIEVA and Asel ERKEBAEVA. Asel lost to Katarzyna as well. For Germany it was a close call but the leaders in Group 5 has seen off a tenacious Team India with a 3-2 win. HAN Ying’s defensive skills proved crucial with the World No.8 locking up two wins along the way. Nina MITTELHAM beats Manika BATRA. “We are really happy that we won. It was our first table tennis team match here and the first match is always difficult. I think match by match we will play better to get in good shape. And then at the end of the championship we all show our best. So it doesn’t matter ” said Nina. Upset of the day so far was created by Italy. European team beat Brazil 3-1 with Giorgia PICCOLIN as the backbone of the team picking up two wins including a career best performance defeating World No.21 Bruna TAKAHASHI. Debora VIVARELLI beats Giulia STAKAHASHI. “We knew we had a chance today to win this match. We didn’t expect Giorgia to win Bruna but we know she has the chance and she’s very brave. My match was also very closed. I knew I had to win this one. It was a thrilling match at the end ” said VIVARELLI.”Yesterday against Hong Kong we knew we could enjoy the match. We didn’t have anything to lose. And it was good that we could start and play a little bit before the match with Brazil. Today we knew we could win. So probably that was the difference between yesterday and today.” France gets the their first win in Chengdu and the first of the Day 2 by defeating South Africa in straight matches. Prithika PAVADE succeeded against Danisha PATEL: “I think we played really well. It was a good start for the tournament We should focus on each ball to finish the match as quick as possible.” Charlotte LUTZ followed her path by beating Zodwa MAPHANGA: “We are always together when we play. We like to focus together and winning together. So I think it’s a good experience.” Team Portugal was forced to go full distance against Sweden. YU Fu recorded both wins against Matilda HANSSON and Linda BERGSTROM SHAO Jieni beat Matilda. Team Czech Republic recorded first win in the match against Egypt. Hana HATELOVA overcame Dina MESHREF: “At the moment we are feeling great. We won but in 2 matches we were very close. I knew that I could play a bit more with calmer vibes. We are going to play against India tomorrow so now we can take rest and prepare for tomorrow.”

On the afternoon session at the 2022 ITTF World Team Championships Finals in Chengdu Luxembourg beat the 4th seeds Korea Republic 3-1. There has been a shock result in the Men’s Teams as well with unseeded Poland proving their worth in overcoming 8th seed England 3-2. Romania overcame Sweden in Women’s Event after thrilling five matches. In team Luxembourg NI Xia Lian justified her status by beating JEON Jihee and LEE Zion and it was Tessy GONDERINGER who put Luxembourg ahead of Korea Republic defeating KIM Hayeong for a career best win (12-10 11-9 2-11 11-9). In the third game KIM was on her way to level the game but Tessy managed to halt her spirited comeback. “It was only important for me to stay calm and to keep on play ball for ball. This is perfect start for us ” said GONDERINGER. NI stated that this win belongs to the team. “The harmony was very important in our victory. We have to thank to our coach on that. Korea is very strong team but this is today’s victory and we already thinks about tomorrow ” said NI. The leaders in Group 6 Romania underlined their status but not without great fight. Sweden proved worthy adversary. Bernadette SZOCS gave Romania dream start with the win over Matilda HANSSON in three straight games but Linda BERGSTROM had other plans. She overcame Elizabeta SAMARA and SZOCS both in five games. Adina DICONU overcame Filippa BERGAND before in the decisive match SAMARA overcame HANSSON in another five games duel. “In the last match I won my opening game easily but then she read my service game and it became difficult to play against Matilda. We are the favorites in this Group and the pressure was on us. It was the case in my last match for sure. Matilda got nothing to lose; she played more relaxed and she risked more. It was very hard to find the answer to that ” said SAMARA. In men’s event Poland beat England in five matches. Whilst all three Samuel KULCZYCKI Maciej KUBIK and Milosz REDZIMSKI scored for Poland it was only Liam PITCHFORD who recorded wins for England. Samuel KULCZYCKI put Poland ahead with a 3-1 win over David MCBEATH PITCHFORD beat REDZIMSKI and KULCZYCKI; Maciej KUBIK stealing a tight victory over England’s Samuel WALKER. In the decisive match REDZIMSKI beat MCBEATH. “We played a good game everyone contributed to the victory and gave it their best. We are very happy. In my last match I played confidently and agressive it allowed me to win 3-0. Of course I had to be focused all time and fortunately I wasn’t thinking about importance of this match. It was tough but great new experience in my pocket ” said REDZIMSKI.

The opening Round at the 2022 ITTF World Team Championships Finals in Chengdu was successful for main European favorites. In Men’s Teams Event Germany Sweden and Slovenia recorded their first wins at the Championships. In Group A Slovenia beat Puerto Rico 3-1 with Darko JORGIC being the main force behind team’s success. He overcame Daniel GONZALEZ and Brian AFANADOR. “It is always harder to be a coach and a player and I am more used to be a player. It is said for us that we are without coach but what we can do? It was no other opportunity for us but it is nice to be also the coach to get some experience for the future “explained JORGIC. Deni KOZUL overcame AFANADOR as well before Peter HRIBAR lost his encounter against Angel NARANJO. “We are happy to win this match. The atmosphere here in China is nice. First matches are always a little bit harder like you are getting used to everything. But I think we did well and we are happy with our performance. In third match peter was leasing 1-0 (9-6). It was a little bit pity that he lost the game but this is team event. Darko fished the game for us with 3-0. At the end team result is important so we want to win. Tomorrow we will play against Thailand and especially since we have Top Ten in our team we are aiming for the win and fighting match per match and we will see when it comes ” stated KOZUL. The leaders in Group 2 Germany overcame Kazakhstan in straight matches. Benedikt DUDA laid the foundation for clear German success in the opening duel. The number 36 in the world managed the decisive break to the important 1-0 lead against the top Kazakh player Kirill Gerassimenko who is eight places better in the ITTF ranking. After 0 -1 and 0 -4 Benedikt Duda scored 11-1 and equalized against Kirill GERASSIMENKO to 1: 1. “I met a tough opponent. They have a very good top player to carry games. We did good teamwork today and I was lucky that I could manage the first win against GERASSIMENKO ” said DUDA. QIU Dang beats Denis ZHOLUDEV without due alarm: “It is a big honor for us to play for the national team. We are all happy that we can represent Germany and we give our best every match so we can fight and be proud to be Germany.” Ricardo WALTHER beats Alan KURMANGALIYEV: “First matches are always difficult new conditions new hall as everything is new. So we need to get used to it. I think we could manage it somehow today. And now we are happy we won the match.” In the same Group France also recorded straight matches win with young forces. Brothers Alexis and Felix LEBRUN and Jules ROLLAND succeeded against Uzbekistan. Alexis LEBRUN beat Abdulaziz ANORBOEV: “It was my first match. I am so excited to play in this competition. I was mainly thinking about how to play. I hope we can continue performing like this in the coming games.” Felix overcame Elmurod KHOLIKOV: “The team spirit is very good. My brother and I had pleasure to play together. So it is very cool.” Jules ROLLAND scored against Shokhrukh ISKANDAROV: “I was nervous in this morning because it is an important match for me. I was less nervous when we did very nice. A year ago it was impossible to see that I would be here today. So I was so happy. It is an amazing thing. We had a very good experience and performance it is the most important thing. We have very good team spirits. There is a different generation like Alexis and Felix in our team. They are very young and it is a good experience to play with them.” The leaders in Group 5 Sweden commenced their journey with the win over Australia. Mattias FALCK beat Dillon CHAMBERS Kristian KARLSSON succeeded against Finn LUU and Anton KALLBERG beat LEE Yonghun. The opening Round at the 2022 ITTF World Team Championships Finals in Chengdu was successful for main European favorites. In Men’s Teams Event Germany Sweden and Slovenia recorded their first wins at the Championships. In Group A Slovenia beat Puerto Rico 3-1 with Darko JORGIC being the main force behind team’s success. He overcame Daniel GONZALEZ and Brian AFANADOR. “It is always harder to be a coach and a player and I am more used to be a player. It is said for us that we are without coach but what we can do? It was no other opportunity for us but it is nice to be also the coach to get some experience for the future “explained JORGIC. Deni KOZUL overcame AFANADOR as well before Peter HRIBAR lost his encounter against Angel NARANJO. “We are happy to win this match. The atmosphere here in China is nice. First matches are always a little bit harder like you are getting used to everything. But I think we did well and we are happy with our performance. In third match peter was leasing 1-0 (9-6). It was a little bit pity that he lost the game but this is team event. Darko fished the game for us with 3-0. At the end team result is important so we want to win. Tomorrow we will play against Thailand and especially since we have Top Ten in our team we are aiming for the win and fighting match per match and we will see when it comes ” stated KOZUL. The leaders in Group 2 Germany overcame Kazakhstan in straight matches. Benedikt DUDA laid the foundation for clear German success in the opening duel. The number 36 in the world managed the decisive break to the important 1-0 lead against the top Kazakh player Kirill Gerassimenko who is eight places better in the ITTF ranking. After 0 -1 and 0 -4 Benedikt Duda scored 11-1 and equalized against Kirill

Defending champions China occupy the top seeded positions in both the men’s and women’s team events at the 2022 ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals Presented by China Telecom; the initial stage groups being determined at the draw ceremony on Wednesday 28th September. Overall 32 teams compete in the men’s event 28 in the women’s competition. In the men’s team event Germany the second seeds are in the same group as France; for Germany DANG Qiu the recently crowned European champion leads the line. Brothers Alexis and Felix LEBRUN appear for France. None were under serious first team consideration four years ago in Halmstad. Similarly at the Liebherr 2018 World Team Championships Truls MOREGARD played just one match; he is now a key player for Sweden the fifth seeds. In their group the next rated outfit is England; the team Sweden beat in Halmstad to gain a semi-final place. Mattias FALCK is pivotal to Swedish success as is Tomokazu HARIMOTO for Japan. They are in the same group as Hong Kong China and Romania. Promoting youth Eduard Ionescu winner of the Under 19 Boys’ Singles title at the European Youth Championships appears in the Romanian squad. In the women’s team event Japan the second seeds face European opposition in the guise of Hungary Poland and Slovakia. The Land of the Rising Sun includes Hina HAYATA Miyuu KIHARA and Miyu NAGASAKI all players born this century they make their World Team Championships debuts. Germany the fifth seeds the staunch defensive skills of HAN Ying at the head of the order are drawn in the same group as teams that in recent years have made immense progress. It is a chance for Egypt and India to shine. Completing to top six teams Romania includes Bernadette SZOCS and Elizabeta SAMARA. They appear in the same group as Chinese Taipei likewise a team with experienced players. Cheng I-Ching and Chen Szu-Yu were both members of Chinese Taipei’s bronze medal winning outfit at the Perfect 2016 World Team Championships in Kuala Lumpur. Overall 16 teams in each of the men’s and women’s events qualify for the knockout stage; play starting on Wednesday 5 October. Teams finishing in first position in each group will be drawn in the seeded positions; second placed team will be drawn randomly against a group winner or into unfilled seeded positions; additional places will be filled by the highest-ranked third-place group finishers. Men’s TeamGroup 1: China Slovenia United States Puerto Rico ThailandGroup 2: Germany France India Kazakhstan UzbekistanGroup 3: Japan; Hong Kong China; Romania; Iran; HungaryGroup 4: Republic of Korea Egypt Czech Republic Canada Saudi ArabiaGroup 5: Sweden England Australia PolandGroup 6: Brazil Portugal Denmark SlovakiaGroup 7: Chinese Taipei Croatia Belgium Singapore Women’s TeamGroup 1: China United States Puerto Rico Canada MalaysiaGroup 2: Japan Hungary Poland Slovakia UzbekistanGroup 3: Hong Kong China; Brazil; France; Italy; South AfricaGroup 4: Republic of Korea Singapore Thailand Luxembourg IranGroup 5: Germany Egypt India Czech RepublicGroup 6: Romania Chinese Taipei Sweden Portugal

Over 250 athletes have landed in Chengdu China ready to compete in the 2022 ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals. For the first time since Beijing 2022 China has welcomed athletes in elite competition. A closed-loop system has been employed for these championships with athletes arriving on specially chartered flights from the ITTF. In the loop athletes will be regularly tested for COVID-19 while being separated from the general population. This system ensured the successful delivery of the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Games and should make for thrilling safe competition in Chengdu. “It’s great that we will be able to play this Championships even if the restrictions are hard ” said Team Sweden’s Kristian KARLSSON. The men’s competition will feature 32 teams with 28 in the women’s draw. Play takes places in two stages a group phase organised on the round robin principle followed by knockout. Before the competition starts a draw ceremony will take place on Wednesday 28 September. Men’s teams will be drawn in to seven groups women’s in to six groups. Placement in the groups will be based on the ITTF World Team Ranking. “Words cannot express how excited we are to be watching the world’s best table tennis teams take the floor in Chengdu ” Petra SORLING ITTF President said. “The most positive news yesterday was that all participants tested negative. Credit must be given to the organisers who have delivered in this challenging environment what surely will be an impeccable event.” The group stage will begin on September 30 with the women’s and men’s finals taking place on October 8 and 9 respectively. The event in Chengdu will be broadcast for the first time in 4K in the Chinese market. Broadcasts of the World Championships will be available in 120 countries to follow the action live. All results and information on Chengdu 2022 can also be found on this dedicated website for the event.

Just a week before the opening preparations for the 2022 ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals are being finalised. More than 250 athletes will be out in force across the 10 days of table tennis action. Excitement is building in the city of Chengdu for the only international sports event hosted in China this year; following the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Participants will arrive on Monday 26 September via special flights chartered by the ITTF. Before the competition starts a draw ceremony will take place on Wednesday 28 September. Men’s teams will be drawn in to seven groups women’s in to six groups. Placement in the groups will be based on the ITTF World Team Ranking. Play commences on Friday 30 September and takes places in two stages a group phase organised on the round robin principle followed by knockout. A team match is best of 5 matches with each individual match being best of 5 games. Overall 16 teams in each of the men’s and women’s events qualify for the knockout stage; play starting on Wednesday 5 October. Teams finishing in first position in each group will be drawn in the seeded positions; second placed team will be drawn randomly against a group winner or into unfilled seeded positions; additional places will be filled by the highest-ranked third-place group finishers. The women’s and men’s finals will take place on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 October respectively. Winning teams receive gold medals as well as the commemorative Swaythling and Marcel Corbillon Cups runners up will be presented with silver medals and losing semi-finalists will receive bronze medals. The 2022 ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals Chengdu will be broadcast in over 120 countries and will also be the first-ever edition produced in 4K for the Chinese market. MEN’S TEAMS:Australia: LEE Yonghun LUU Finn LUM Nicholas CHAMBERS DillonBelgium: ALLEGRO Martin DEVOS Laurens LAMBIET Florent NUYTINCK Cédric RASSENFOSSE AdrienBrazil: CALDERANO Hugo ISHIY Vitor JOUTI EricCanada: LY Edward WANG Ze Xuan XU DavidChina: FAN Zhendong LIANG Jingkun LIN Gaoyuan MA Long WANG ChuqinChinese Taipei: CHUANG Chih-Yuan HUANG Yan-Cheng LIAO Cheng-Ting LIN Yun-Ju PENG Wang-WeiCroatia: BAN Ivor GACINA Andrej PUCAR Tomislav ZELJKO FilipCzech Republic: KOLDAS Tomas POLANSKY Tomas VALENTA JanDenmark: ANDERSEN Martin CHRISTENSEN Thor LIND Anders RASMUSSEN TobiasEgypt: ABDELAZIZ Youssef EL-BEIALY Mohamed SALEH Ahmed SHOUMAN MohamedEngland: MCBEATH David PITCHFORD Liam WALKER SamuelFrance: LEBESSON Emmanuel LEBRUN Alexis LEBRUN Felix ROLLAND JulesGermany: DUDA Benedikt MENG Fanbo QIU Dang STUMPER Kay WALTHER RicardoHong Kong: LAM Siu Hang LI Hon Ming NG Pak Nam WONG Chun Ting YIU Kwan ToHungary: ECSEKI Nandor LAKATOS Tamas MAJOROS Bence SZUDI AdamIndia: DESAI Harmeet GNANASEKARAN Sathiyan SHAH Manush Utpalbhai SHETTY Sanil THAKKAR Manav VikashIran: ALAMIAN Nima ALAMIYAN Noshad AMIRI NIA Soroosh HODAEI Seyedamirhossein NOROOZI AfshinJapan: HARIMOTO Tomokazu NIWA Koki OIKAWA Mizuki TOGAMI Shunsuke YOKOTANI JoKazakhstan: GERASSIMENKO Kirill KENZHIGULOV Aidos KURMANGALIYEV Alan ZHOLUDEV DenisMexico: ARCE Dario GOMEZ Juan Jesus MADRID Marcos VILLA JoséPoland: GRELA Artur KUBIK Maciej KULCZYCKI Samuel REDZIMSKI MiłoszPortugal: APOLÓNIA Tiago FREITAS Marcos GERALDO João MONTEIRO JoãoPuerto Rico: AFANADOR Brian GONZALEZ Daniel NARANJO Angel Republic of Korea: AN Jaehyun CHO Daeseong CHO Seungmin HWANG Minha JANG WoojinRomania: IONESCU Eduard IONESCU Ovidiu PLETEA Cristian SZOCS HunorSaudi Arabia: ALIM Azzam ALKHADRAWI Ali ALSHAREIF Khalid ALSUWAILEM Salem BU SHULAYBI AbdulazizSingapore: BEH Kun Ting CHEW Zhe Yu Clarence PANG Yew En Koen QUEK Yong Izaac WONG AndySlovakia: KLAJBER Adam WANG Yang ZELINKA JakubSlovenia: CVETKO Tilen HRIBAR Peter JORGIĆ Darko KOŽUL DeniSweden: FALCK Mattias KÄLLBERG Anton KARLSSON Kristian MOREGARD Truls PERSSON JonThailand: PASSARA Pattaratorn SANGUANSIN Phakpoom TANCHAROEN SayayutUnited States of America: ALTO Earl LEVINSKI Mishel LIANG JishanUzbekistan: ANORBOEV Abdulaziz ISKANDAROV Shokhrukh KENJAEV Zokhid KHOLIKOV Elmurod WOMEN’S TEAMS:Brazil: TAKAHASHI Bruna TAKAHASHI Giulia WATANABE LauraCanada: NIE Jiayi LIAO Ivy HUANG Hui LIU CrystalChina: CHEN Meng CHEN Xingtong SUN Yingsha WANG Manyu WANG YidiChinese Taipei: CHEN Szu-Yu CHENG I-Ching HUANG Yi-Hua LI Yu-Jhun LIU Hsing-YinCzech Republic: MATELOVA Hana SEVCIKOVA Marketa TOMANOVSKA KaterinaEgypt: ABDELRAZEK Yousra ALHODABY Mariam GODA Hana MESHREF DinaFrance: CHASSELIN Pauline LUTZ Charlotte PAVADE Prithika YUAN Jia NanGermany: HAN Ying KAUFMANN Annett MITTELHAM Nina SHAN Xiaona WINTER SabineHong Kong: DOO Hoi Kem LEE Ho Ching NG Wing Lam SOO Wai Yam Minnie ZHU ChengzhuHungary: HARTBRICH Leonie MADARASZ Dora NAGYVARADI MercedesIndia: AKULA Sreeja BATRA Manika CHITALE Diya Parag GHOSH Swastika TENNISON ReethIran: ASHTARI Mahshid HAJILOU Parinaz RAHIMI Elina SAFAEI Shima SHAHSAVARI NedaItaly: ARLIA Nicole PICCOLIN Giorgia VIVARELLI DeboraJapan: HAYATA Hina ITO Mima KIHARA Miyuu NAGASAKI Miyu SATO HitomiLuxembourg: BARBOSA Ariel DE NUTTE Sarah GONDERINGER Tessy NI Xia LianMalaysia: LYNE Karen CHANG Li Sian Alice HO Ying TEE Ai XinMexico: BARCENAS Clio COSSIO Arantxa GUTIERREZ Lourdes SILVA YadiraPoland: BAJOR Natalia PARTYKA Natalia WEGRZYN Anna WEGRZYN KatarzynaPortugal: SHAO Jieni MATOS Ines YU FuPuerto Rico: DIAZ Adriana DIAZ Melanie RIOS DanielyRepublic of Korea: JEON Jihee KIM Hayeong KIM Nayeong LEE Zion YOON HyobinRomania: CIOBANU Irina DIACONU Adina DRAGOMAN Andreea SAMARA Elizabeta SZOCS BernadetteSingapore: GOI Rui Xuan WONG Xin Ru ZENG Jian ZHANG Wanling ZHOU JingyiSlovakia: BALÁŽOVÁ Barbora KUKULKOVÁ Tatiana LABOŠOVÁ EmaSouth Africa: EDWARDS Lailaa KALAM Musfiquh MAPHANGA Zodwa PATEL DanishaSweden: BERGAND Filippa BERGSTRÖM Linda HANSSON Matilda KÄLLBERG ChristinaThailand: PARANANG Orawan SAWETTABUT Jinnipa SAWETTABUT SuthasiniUnited States of America: JALLI Sarah KE Tiffany LIN Yi-Shiuan ZHANG LilyUzbekistan: ERKEBAEVA Asel KHADJIEVA Rozalina MADALIEVA Sugdiyona MAGDIEVA Markhabo  

Men’s Germany national coach Jörg ROSSKOPF will give the 25-year-old European singles champion Dang QIU and the two-time European team champion Benedikt DUDA (28) the responsibility as top players of his national team at the World Team Championships in Chengdu (30 September to 9 October). The German women’s team will compete in their best line-up with the exception of Petrissa SOLJA who is still injured (spinal disc). “Of course we are not yet making a generational change in the men’s team but we are already taking the young generation to task ” explains Richard PRAUSE Sports Director of the German Table Tennis Assocation. In this test for the young generation the DTTB takes advantage from the fact that this time in Chengdu there are no points to be won for the individual world rankings. Timo BOLL and Dimitrij OVTCHAROV who were injured for a long time before the European Championships in Munich as well as the young father Patrick FRANZISKA together the Olympic silver trio of Tokyo can continue to build up their form during their World Championships break and re-enter the international tournament circus after the World Championships at the WTT Champions and WTT Cup Finals in China competing also for the individual as well as for the Olympic team ranking. “You have to give responsibility to the following generation of players early on because they have to learn in time how to deal with pressure ” says Jörg ROSSKOPF. This had already worked excellently at last year’s European Team Championships without BOLL and OVTCHAROV who were taking a break after the Olympics. Led by Patrick FRANZISKA Germany’s men’s team won gold. The DTTB women with Nina MITTELHAM and Sabine Winter at the first and second positions this year’s European silver and bronze medallists in singles achieved the same feat even without Ying Han Petrissa SOLJA and Xiaona SHAN. Besides QIU and DUDA Germany’s men will compete in Chengdu with the German singles champion from 2020 Ricardo WALTHER as well as two young World Championships’ debutants: 19-year-old European U19 Champion from 2021 Kay Stumper and Fanbo MENG who is two years older and was a semi-finalist at the German nationals in 2021. In the women’s singles national coach Tamara BOROS has nominated 16-year-old reigning European U19 champion Annett Kaufmann alongside world number eight Ying Han and the individual medallists of the recent European Championships in Munich Nina MITTELHAM Xiaona SHAN and Sabine WINTER. The World Team Championships in Chengdu are the first since Halmstad 2018. The World Team Championships in Busan South Korea which was supposed to have taken place in 2020 was cancelled due to the Covid 19 pandemic. “We have a good team and a good team spirit. The only thing negative will be our COVID tests everything else will hopefully be positive for us “ said Women’s national coach Tamara BOROS Nina MITTELHAM: “If we are all in good shape we are a very good team. It depends on the draw of course. Inwardly we’re hoping to play for the medals and even fly home with a medal in the end.” Men’s national coach Jörg ROSSKOPF: “You have to set high goals. Of course it won’t be easier in this constellation but I believe that my team can achieve the maximum and I trust them to do so in Chengdu.” Dang QIU: “I gladly accept the responsibility as a leading player and try to do my best and fight for every ball for the team. Then no matter how it turns out I will learn a lot from these World Championships.” Men’s team Dang QIU (Club: Borussia Düsseldorf) Benedikt DUDA (TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt) Ricardo Walther (ASV Grünwettersbach) Kay STUMPER (Borussia Düsseldorf) Fanbo MENG (TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell) Women’s team Ying HAN (KTS Enea Siarka Tarnobrzeg POL / Top Nagoya JPN) Nina MITTELHAM (ttc berlin eastside / Kyushu Asteeda JPN) Xiaona SHAN (ttc berlin eastside / Kyoto Kaguya JPN) Sabine WINTER (TSV Schwabhausen) Annett KAUFMANN (SV Böblingen)