France will take both Lebrun brothers, Simon Gauzy and Flavien Coton to the Mixed Team World Cup in Chengdu, with Jia Nan Yuan, Prithika Pavade, Charlotte Lutz and Nina Guo Zheng, who has won three European under-19 titles, named in the women's team.

The French Table Tennis Federation (FFTT) announced the eight-player squad on Thursday. The tournament runs from 29 November to 6 December at the Sichuan Gymnasium, with 20 teams split into two groups of 10 and 106 matches across the group stage and the classification ties.

Félix Lebrun, the world No 2, and his brother Alexis, ranked ninth, give France two players from the top 10. Coton is No 23 in the world and Gauzy No 33. Yuan, at No 35, is the highest-ranked Frenchwoman, ahead of Pavade at 37 and Lutz at 66, while Guo Zheng is ranked 169th.

Three women and three men

Each tie will now use three women and three men rather than two of each, in line with the Olympic system.

Jean-René Mounié, the FFTT's high-performance director, said: "The format has changed somewhat, since we can no longer play two plus two but three plus three, as in the Olympic system: the group will matter all the more."

Each tie opens with a mixed doubles. A women's singles and a men's singles follow, in an order drawn by lot, and then, if needed, a women's doubles and a men's doubles. The first team to win eight games takes the tie. It is the same format that will be used for the new mixed team event at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

The selection

Mounié singled out Guo Zheng. "Nina, with three European under-19 titles, shows rare potential," he said. Of Yuan, he said she "will bring all her experience to our team".

On the men's side he described the presence of two top-10 players as "quite exceptional". He said Coton had "cruised through" the World Team Championships and had shown he could already take on such responsibilities despite his young age.

Gauzy earns his place on recent form. "Simon is probably the player with the best results after the Lebrun brothers in recent months, with two wins against players in the world top 12," Mounié said.

The gap at the top

Mounié was frank about the balance of the team. "Our men dominate Europe and are very competitive at world level, our women are very competitive at European level but the gap with the best in the world remains significant," he said.

Patrick Chila coaches the women's team and Nathanaël Molin the men's, with Aurélien Puel also on the coaching staff.

Chengdu is eight hours ahead of the UK. For Mounié, the answer to the gap lies in numbers: "The strength of the group will certainly be an asset."