India men blank Tunisia in opener; women receive bye

The Indian men’s team blanked Tunisia 3-0 in its opening tie of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships 2026 at the OVO Arena Wembley, in London, England, on Tuesday.

World No. 51 Manush Shah set the tone for the Indian men’s table tennis team in its Group 7 opener with a 3-1 (11-5, 9-11, 11-3, 11-5) win over Wassim Essid.

The lone game Manush Shah dropped proved to be the only blemish for Indian table tennis players, who did not concede another game across all ties on the opening day.

Manav Thakkar, India’s top-ranked men’s player at world No. 38, was up next and he made light work of Youssef Aidli, winning the contest 3-0 (11-3, 11-3, 11-3).

Asian Games medallist and world No. 84 Harmeet Desai then wrapped up the tie with another comfortable 3-0 (11-5, 11-4, 11-8) victory over Aboubaker Bourass.

The Indian men’s team will take on Slovakia in their second match on Wednesday and then end their Group 7 of Stage 1b with a tie against Guatemala.

Meanwhile, the Indian women’s team got their campaign underway with a 3-0 walkover win against Uganda.

They will face Ukraine in their second match on Wednesday before finishing their Group 6 of Stage 1b against Rwanda the following day.

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

The World Team Table Tennis Championships were first staged as a standalone competition in 2000, with the ongoing edition of the tournament set to conclude on May 10.

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