Sweden will go to the Mixed Team World Cup in Chengdu without Truls Moregard, their highest-ranked player, who has been left out so that he can concentrate on the WTT Finals in Hong Kong the following week.
The Swedish Table Tennis Association (SBTF) named an eight-player squad of Elias Ranefur, Anton Källberg, Kristian Karlsson and Mattias Karlsson in the men's team and Christina Källberg, Filippa Bergand, Nomin Baasan and Alma Rööse in the women's. The tournament runs from 29 November to 6 December at the Sichuan Gymnasium, and the WTT Finals Hong Kong follow from 8 December.
Moregard rested for Hong Kong
Moregard, the Olympic silver medallist and world No 6, has had a heavy autumn and withdrew from WTT Champions Frankfurt earlier this month with an injury. The federation gave the calendar as the reason for leaving him out.
Michael Maze, one of Sweden's two new national coaches, said: "Truls has qualified for the WTT Finals the week after the Mixed World Cup." The federation added that, after such a demanding run of events, it was right for Moregard to put the season-ending tournament first in December.
Linda Bergström, ranked 81st and a regular in the women's team, also misses the event. Fang Zhang, the other new national coach, said Bergström is pregnant.
The squad
Without Moregard, Sweden still take four of their five highest-ranked men. Källberg is the world No 26, one place above Ranefur, with Kristian Karlsson at 48 and Mattias Karlsson at 98.
The women's team is thinner on ranking points. Christina Källberg, known in Sweden as Stina, is the highest-ranked woman in the squad at No 84 in the world, with Bergand at 122. Baasan, who reached the second qualifying round at WTT Contender Istanbul this week, and Rööse are both outside the top 200.
Maze said: "We have four really strong men in place, so it feels good." Zhang said the players travelling had "a lot of quality".
Treated as a championship
Maze and Zhang picked the squad and both will coach in Chengdu, where Sweden will also take a physiotherapist. Emma Persson, the national team manager, said the federation had decided after last year's Mixed Team World Cup to treat the event as a championship.
There is more riding on it this time. Persson said this year's tournament is a qualifying event for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, where a mixed team event will be held for the first time, as are the European Games in June 2027.
Each tie in Chengdu uses three women and three men, in line with the Olympic format. It opens with a mixed doubles, followed by a women's singles and a men's singles 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.
China, who have won all three previous editions, have named Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha at the head of their squad, and France will bring Félix and Alexis Lebrun. The tournament starts on Sunday 29 November.
