Romania’s women’s team defeated Sweden 3-0 on Friday in its first match of Group 7 at the 2024 World Team Table Tennis Championships in Busan, South Korea.

Bernadette Szocs won the first point for Romania after defeating 3-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-7) Christina Kallberg, then Elizabeta Samara defeated Linda Bergstrom 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 13-11), and Adina Diaconu won her meet with Filippa Bergand 3-0 (13-11, 11-9, 13-11).

In the next group matches, Romania will face Canada – Saturday, February 17; Singapore – Sunday, February 18, and Serbia – Monday, February 19.

In the men’s competition, Romania will face Portugal in their first match – Friday, February 16, and then will play Egypt – Saturday, February 17; Thailand – Sunday, February 18, and Iran – Tuesday, February 20.

The women’s team consists of Bernadette Szocs, Elizabeta Samara, Andreea Dragoman, Adina Diaconu, Elena Zaharia, coaches Viorel Filimon, Mihaela Seff and physiotherapist Petrut Ghita, while the men’s team is made up of Ovidiu Ionescu, Eduard Ionescu, Darius Movileanu, Andrei Istrate, Iulian Chirita, coaches Andrei Filimon, Ionut Seni and physiotherapist Adrian Mirza. The delegation also includes psychologist Mioara Sincan.

As many as 40 teams are competing in the 2024 world team championships, which will decide what teams will compete in the table tennis events at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games. The best eight teams are assured direct qualification.