Recap: USA Athletes at the 2024 ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships

^{The Men's and Women's Teams representing the USA at the 2024 World Teams Table Tennis Championships Busan, (left to right, back) Coach Mark Hazinski, Nikhil Kumar, Jishan Liang, Kai Zhang, Nandan Naresh, and Sid Naresh. (Front) Tiffany Ke, Kayla Goodwin, Amber Liu, Jessica Reyes-Lai, and Emily Tan. Busan, South Korea. Feb. 16–25, 2024.}

At the 2024 ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships held in Busan, South Korea, USA Men’s, and Women’s teams gained valuable experience and fought hard against the world’s best players.

^{The USA Men's Team at the USA at the 2024 World Teams Table Tennis Championships Busan, (left to right) Coach Mark Hazinski, Nikhil Kumar, Jishan Liang, Kai Zhang, Nandan Naresh, and Sid Naresh. Busan, South Korea. Feb. 16–25, 2024.}

The USA Men's Team delivered exceptional performances throughout the tournament. Nikhil Kumar (WR #281) secured a career best win against Liam Pitchford (WR #29) and a come from behind 11-9 in the fifth win against Paul Drinkhall (WR #116). Jishan Liang (WR #142) won the third match in the team tie over Paul Drinkhall (3-1) to complete the historic upset against England 3-2. USA men also won against Saudi Arabia 3-0, with Nikhil, Jishan and Nandan all winning their matches. Overpowered by Germany, the US lost 0-3 with Jishan, Nikhil and Nandan losing to Patrick Franziska, Dang Qiu and Dimitrij Ovtcharov in straight sets.

Regrettably, the USA Men's Team faced a setback during the match with Kazakhstan after leading 2-1 and earning enough games to advance to the play offs. Officials stopped the competition after the 4th match where Nikhil narrowly lost to Kirill 2-3 and informed the team that due to Jishan’s racket being too thick, his match would be a walk over and the team will now have lost 1-3 instead of being tied 2-2. This automatically forced the team to 4th place in the group, and they would no longer advance into the play offs.

USA Table Tennis challenged the disqualification of Jishan Liang, but the ITTF Jury Committee declined the appeal. While USA Table Tennis respects the decision, we are disappointed by the inconsistency of ITTF’s racket testing procedures. This situation raises broader concerns about racket testing and fairness in table tennis. USA Table Tennis is proud of our Men’s team and all they accomplished in Busan.

^{The USA Women's Team appearing at the USA at the 2024 World Teams Table Tennis Championships Busan, (left to right) Tiffany Ke, Kayla Goodwin, Amber Liu, Jessica Reyes-Lai, and Emily Tan. Busan, South Korea. Feb. 16–25, 2024.}

The USA Women's Team consisted of a young team brimming with brand-new talent. Only Tiffany Ke, who had attended the 2022 World Team Table Tennis Championships in Chengdu, China had previous World Championship experience. For these young women, the focus of the event was experience and exposure. In their opening match against Chile, the team lost 3-2 with Tiffany Ke and Emily Tan winning their two matches. However, Jessica Reyes Lai who was making her international senior debut barely lost her two matches 2-3 against Daniela Ortega and Paulina Vega. Overpowered by Chinese Taipei and Thailand, the team lost 0-3 but gained much experience along the way.

On the last day of group play, the Women’s Team earned their win against Algeria in dominant fashion. Jessica, Kayla and Amber each won their matches 3-0 and put the team in 4^th place in the group. Unfortunately, it was not enough to advance, but each player gained valuable experience playing, watching and learning from the world’s best.

USA Table Tennis expresses its gratitude to the organizers, sponsors, and fans for their support throughout the championships. The performance of both the USA Men's and Women's Teams reflects the dedication and hard work invested by the athletes, coaches, and the communities from which our players come.