On May 6, during the men’s team round of 16 at the 2026 London World Table Tennis Championships, China faced Romania. The national team deployed Liang Jingkun as the first player, but he was unexpectedly swept 3-0 by Romania’s top player, Edward Ionescu. This marks yet another international defeat for Liang.
At this World Championships, Liang has already lost three matches against foreign opponents. Since the Macau Singles World Cup on March 31, he has suffered five losses in 36 days. His form has been consistently poor in 2026, with his world ranking dropping to 21st. Despite this, the coaching staff entrusted him with the crucial opening match. Ionescu, ranked 41st globally, is far less renowned than Liang, but the match saw Liang struggle from the start. Ionescu won the first game 11-5 and followed up with an 11-7 victory in the second.
Liang made frequent errors, and in the third game, he still failed to turn things around. Among the crowd were Olympic champions Ma Long, Xu Xin, and Liu Shiwen, who came to support the team. Ma Long’s expression was somber as he watched from the stands. After retiring following last year’s National Games, Ma Long remains connected to the national team, recently serving as a sparring partner in Chengdu and now attending in London.
The Chinese men’s team is facing a difficult period. During the World Cup, Liang lost 1-3 to South Korea’s Oh Junsung and 2-3 to Sweden’s Truls Möregårdh. Now, his 0-3 defeat to Ionescu—without reaching deuce in any game—underscores his lack of form. Earlier this year, Liang also fell 2-3 to Qu Dang in the Chongqing Champions Cup in mid-March, and during the Macau World Cup, he was stunned 3-2 by both Cuba’s Andy Pereira and Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov.
After Fan Zhendong opted out of the World Championships, the team chose Liang over 19-year-old Wen Ruibo, who has been outstanding in 2026. Wen’s performances this year rank second only to Wang Chuqin within the national team, surpassing Lin Shiding, Liang, Zhou Qihao, and Xiang Peng. Wen won men’s singles titles at the Muscat and Taiyuan regular challengers. At the Chongqing Champions Cup, he defeated Möregårdh, Qu Dang, and Tomokazu Harimoto before losing to Felix Lebrun in the final. Wen’s world ranking has climbed to 11th, behind only Wang and Lin among Chinese players. Given his strong form and international results, Wen seemed a more suitable choice for the World Championships, but he was only used as a sparring partner during preparation.
