The English men's team have continued to shock the table tennis world by upsetting the Polish team to make it to their first quarterfinals in 33 years, at the Perfect 2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships held in Kuala Lumpur, from 28 February to 6 March 2016. Team England men's team last reached the quarterfinals of a World Team Championships back at the Tokyo World Team Table Tennis Championships in 1983, which means the current team of Paul DRINKHALL, Liam PITCHFORD & Sam WALKER were not even born the last time England reached such lofty heights. DRINKHALL was the hero, winning the deciding match Jakub DYJAS 3-1 to secure the historic 3-2 victory to book a date with France in the quarter final. 2000 World Champions Sweden defeated Croatia 3-0 to set up a rematch of that famous final with China, which also took place in Kuala Lumpur. Portugal found their form again, which had deserted them in the group stages to record a 3-0 over Korea DPR and will now play Korea Republic for a place in the semi final. The final quarter final will take place between Japan and Hong Kong, who defeated Austria in their round of 16 match to end the fairytale run of the comeback king, 2003 World Champion Werner SCHLAGER. The German women's team, who caused a massive upset beating Japan, the 2014 silver medalists, yesterday night 3-2 in the last round of the women's Team qualification rounds, continued their momentum in the round of 16. The Germans pulled off an impressive 3-0 victory against the Korean Republic women's team headed by 2015 World Mixed Doubles Champion YANG Haeun, to set up another meeting with the Japanese team, this time in the quarterfinals. Fate was however, not in favor for the German team this time round, as Japan avenged their bitter loss one day earlier in the qualifications, prevailing 3-0 to end German's chances for the title. In the highly anticipated face-off, 15-year-old Mima ITO dominated the table over Sabine WINTER to give Japan a lead, while World number 4 and 5, Ai FUKUHARA and Kasumi ISHIKAWA both had a taste of sweet revenge against Kristin SILBERESEN and Petrissa SOLJA respectively to seal the overall victory and book their semifinals place. For the other women's team quarterfinals, defending champion China continued their 3-0 winning streak, eliminating team Netherlands. Despite the 3-0 overall victory, the Chinese were pushed to their limits, with LI Jie forcing 2015 World Champion DING Ning in a classic 'Attack VS Defence' match, only to lose 9-11 in the decider. Chinese Taipei, who had a smooth run in the first stage of the World Championships, faced strong resistance from Europe's growing table tennis power Ukraine en route to the set up a quarterfinals match against fourth seeded Hong Kong tomorrow morning. Korea DPR swept the Romanian women 3-0 to secure the last spot in the quarterfinals, against 2010 Champion Singapore. Quick Links: Day 4 Results: http://bit.ly/216va5s Day 5 Schedule: http://bit.ly/1QnglZi Day 4 Flash Quotes: http://bit.ly/1phQucG Media guide: http://bit.ly/1UbmfQ5 Photos for editorial use: http://bit.ly/1T2UA4B Event news and information: http://bit.ly/16WTTC Video Match Highlights: http://bit.ly/1QlLaiq Full Match replays: ITTF.com/itTV |