A disappointing end to India’s campaign at the 2026 ITTF World Table Tennis Team Championships as both teams lost in the round of 32 on Tuesday.

The Indian men’s team suffered a 0-3 defeat at the hands of much lower-ranked Austria, and the women’s team bowed 1-3 to the Pan-American silver medalist USA.

The Indian men’s team entered the tie as favourites based on individual rankings, but the former world no. 18 and experienced Robert Gardos gave Austria a positive start.

The 47-year-old came from behind to beat Manush Shah in a tiring 5-game encounter, 6-11, 11-7, 11-3, 8-11, 13-11, in extra points to win the first match of the tie.

India couldn’t recover from this and conceded the next two matches in straight games, as Manav Thakkar and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran couldn’t put up a fight.

The Indian women’s team also had a disappointing start as the 18-year-old Sally Moyland got the better of Yashaswini Ghorpade in straight games.

Then, the India no.1, Manika Batra, took the tie score to level terms with a 4-game win over Jessica Lai in the second singles to keep the Indian hopes high.

But then, the experienced Lily Zhang and teenager Sally won the next two matches against Diya Chitale and Manika Batra, respectively and gave a 3-1 win to the USA.

With this, India’s campaign in London is over as neither of the two teams progressed to the pre-quarterfinals, which they did in the last two editions.