Staged in Chengdu, play at the 2022 ITTF World Team Championships Finals commencing in two weeks, on Friday 30^th September, for the men the goal is to hold aloft the Swaythling Cup, for the women it is the Corbillon Cup.

Swaythling Cup

Donated by Lady Baroness Swaythling, mother of the Honourable Ivor Montagu, the first President of the International Table Tennis Federation, the Swaythling Cup dates back to the first ever World Championships staged in 1926 in London

Hungary emerged winners on the first five occasions but by some distance. China with 21 victories leads the field; notably they have won at the nine most recent editions.

Eight countries have enjoyed the privilege of returning home with the precious trophy.

• China 21 wins: 1961, 1963, 1965, 1971, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018
• Hungary 12 wins: 1926, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1933 (Jan), 1933 (Dec), 1935, 1938, 1049, 1952, 1979
• Japan 7 wins: 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1967, 1969
• Czechoslovakia 6 wins: 1932, 1939, 1947, 1948, 1950, 1951
• Sweden 5 wins: 1973, 1989, 1991, 1993, 2000
• Austria 1 win: 1936
• England 1 win: 1953
• United States 1 win: 1937

Corbillon Cup

Donated by Marcel Corbillon, the women’s team event was first contested at the eighth edition of the World Championships, staged in December 1933 in Paris. A unique era in the history of the tournament. It is the only occasion when two World Championships have been held in the same year, in January 1933, Baden played host.

The location of the original Corbillon Cup is shrouded in mystery. Won by the German women’s team in Cairo in 1939, it is believed that the original Cup disappeared during the early days of the Berlin occupation following the end of World War Two.

Later the German Table Tennis Federation paid for an exact replacement made in 1949.

A total of 11 different teams have won the Corbillon Cup; as with the men China has prevailed 21 times, next in line is Japan with eight titles. Arguably the most historic occasion was at the 1991 World Championships in Chiba when a Unified Korea team struck gold; the events became the subject of the film “As One”.

• China 21 wins: 1965, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018
• Japan 8 wins: 1952, 1954, 1957, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1967, 1971
• Romania 5 wins: 1950, 1951, 1953, 1955, 1956
• Czechoslovakia 3 wins: 1935, 1936, 1938
• England 2 wins: 1947, 1948
• Germany 2 wins: 1933, 1939
• United States 2 wins: 1937, 1949
• Korea Republic 1 win: 1973
• Korea Unified 1 win: 1991
• Singapore 1 win: 2010
• Soviet Union 1 win: 1969