The World Table Tennis Championships first took place in 1926 in London, England. However, since the year 2000, the Championship has been split into two separate competitions.

Team events are now held in even numbered years, whilst individual events (singles and doubles) are held in odd numbered years.

So 2016 was the year for the team events to be contested, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia staged the event from 28 February to 6 March 2016.

Team Event Cups
by courtesy of the ITTF

The World Table Tennis Championships 2016 events were...

• Men's Team - for the Swaythling Cup
  
  
• Women's Team - for the Marcel Corbillon Cup

The Swaythling Cup was donated in 1926 by Lady Baroness Swaythling, mother of Ivor Montagu, whilst the Corbillon Cup was donated in 1933 by Marcel Corbillon, President of the French TTA, for the first Women's Team event at the 1934 World Championships.

However, the original Corbillon Cup disappeared just after World War II, so the German Table Tennis Federation paid for an exact replica in 1949 (the German Women's team won the Cup in the 1939 World Championships - the last time it was played before the outbreak of World War II).

The following equipment was used at the 2016 World Team Championships...

• Tables - Butterfly Trusspeed (Blue)
  
  
• Net and Posts - Butterfly
  
  
• Balls - Double Happiness 40+ 3 star
  
  
• Flooring - Enlio (Purple)

The World Team Championships were played on a "Division" System with 24 teams in each of the top 3 Divisions. All other teams formed a 4th Division.

In each of the top 3 Divisions there were 4 groups of 6 teams, whereas the 4th Division comprised all the remaining teams divided into groups.

The 1st Division is also the Championship Division. Only teams in this division can compete for the title of World Champions.

Only associations who took part with at least one player or team in its preceding Continental Championships, including qualification tournaments, or Continental Games were eligible to enter a team in the World Championships.

Teams

The teams that finished in the top 16 places at the ZEN-NOH 2014 World Team Championships in Tokyo were guaranteed a place in the Championship Division regardless of World Ranking.

In addition, the teams who finished in first and second places in the remaining divisions in Tokyo gained promotion to the next highest division.

England and Italy were the promoted teams in the Men's event, whilst in the Women's event it was Brazil and Sweden. The remaining places were allocated based on the current World Team ranking.

Malaysia, as hosts, accepted the option of a place in the Championship Division in both the Men's and Women's events.

Seeding

Seeding in every division was based on the World Team Ranking published for January 2016. (The World Team Ranking for each national association is based on the three highest ranked players in that association named on the current Men's and Women's World Rankings).

The playing system for the 1st Division (Championship Division) was in two stages...

Each group of 6 teams played a complete round-robin competition (5 matches per team).

Then...

Following the completion of the round robin stage in each group, the teams who finished in the top three positions in each group advanced to a knock-out competition to compete for the title of World Champions.

The winners of each group (4 teams) went directly into the quarter finals and were seeded accordingly.

The teams finishing 2nd in each group were drawn randomly into positions 5-8 in Round 1.

The teams finishing 3rd in each group were drawn randomly into positions 9-12 in Round 1 (except, teams having played against each other in the group stage would not meet again in the first round of the knock-out competition).

And...

The teams finishing 4th, 5th and 6th in each group (12 teams) played a similar knock-out competition to determine positions 13 to 24.

MEN

First (Championship) Division

China, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Portugal, Hong Kong China, Austria, Sweden, France, Chinese Taipei, Russia, Poland, Croatia, Belarus, Greece, Denmark, Czech Republic, England, Romania, Ukraine, Italy, Singapore, North Korea, Malaysia.

Second Division

Brazil, India, Hungary, Spain, Serbia, Egypt, Slovak Republic, Iran, Belgium, Nigeria, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Argentina, Australia, Vietnam, Netherlands, Switzerland, Thailand, Latvia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Norway, Turkey, Canada.

Third Division

Lithuania, USA, Chile, Congo Brazzaville, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Scotland, Algeria, Finland, Philippines, Lebanon, Paraguay, Estonia, Luxembourg, Guatemala, Mongolia, Ireland, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Cyprus, New Zealand.

Fourth Division

Venezuela, Pakistan, Mauritius, Tunisia, Jamaica, Togo, Macao, Turkmenistan, Malta, Kosovo, Laos, Panama, Libya, Maldives, United Arab Emirates, Morocco.

^ Top of page ^

WOMEN

First (Championship) Division

China, Japan, Netherlands, Hong Kong China, Singapore, South Korea, Germany, Chinese Taipei, North Korea, Romania, Austria, Poland, Russia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Spain, Thailand, France, USA, Belarus, Sweden, Brazil,Malaysia.

Second Division

Serbia, Slovak Republic, Croatia, Luxembourg, India, Slovenia, Egypt, England, Lithuania, Canada, Greece, Nigeria, Vietnam, Puerto Rico, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey, Colombia, Chile, Portugal, Bulgaria, Mexico, New Zealand.

Third Division

Indonesia, Australia, Venezuela, Argentina, Iran, Kazakhstan, Macao, Uzbekistan, Estonia, Wales, Philippines, Guatemala, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Congo Brazzaville, Finland, Norway, Algeria, Pakistan, Latvia, Ethiopia, Azerbaijan, Laos, Nepal.

Fourth Division

Maldives, South Africa, Kosovo, Qatar, Mauritius, Fiji Islands, Lebanon, Turkmenistan.

The last World Team Table Tennis Championships were held in Tokyo, Japan in April/May 2014 and the winners were...

• Men's Team - China
• Women's Team - China

China's men defeated Germany in the final, whilst China's women defeated Japan in the final.

Perfect China Company Limited were the title sponsor of the 2016 ITTF World Team Championships.

The Perfect World Team Championships were held at Malawati Stadium and marked the second edition of the event to be held in Malaysia, which first hosted the tournament in 2000.

Established in 1994, Perfect China Company Limited specialises in health and nutrition food, cosmetics and personal care products through over 9,000 online and physical stores in China.

Thomas Weikert, President of the ITTF, said...

"The ITTF is thrilled to have such a perfect partner as Perfect China Company Limited on board for the 2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships.

We are looking forward to working with them closely, as well as the Table Tennis Association of Malaysia and Malaysia Major Events, to make the 2016 World Championships the biggest and best ever."

Tony Nagamaiah, General Manager of Malaysia Major Events, said...

"By hosting the Perfect 2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships, the country shall witness the synergy between sports and tourism with thousands of international attendees specifically traveling to Malaysia to be part of the event, at the same time generating more than RM33 million in economic impact from tourist expenditure."

2016 Men's Team Event Results here

2016 Women's Team Event Results here