Table tennis: Paul Drinkhall selected in England squad for World Championships

The Loftus ace joins Liam Pitchford and Sam Walker – with whom he won team bronze at the Worlds last year – and David McBeath at the event, which begins on May 29.

This year’s competition features individual rather than team events, and the four English players will appear in singles and doubles.

At the last individual World Championships in Suzhou in 2015, Drinkhall reached the last 64 and with Pitchford was beaten in the last 64 of the doubles.

Before then, the same squad faces home-and-away play-offs against Slovakia in April to determine whether they will qualify in the top division for the European Championships in September.