The German table tennis men made a successful start to the World Team Championships in Chengdu/China.

Individual European champions Dang Qiu (Düsseldorf), Benedikt Duda (Bergneustadt) and Ricardo Walther (Grünwettersbach) won their opening game on Friday against outsiders Kazakhstan 3-0.

The next game for the German team, who won silver at the 2018 World Cup in Sweden, is against India on Sunday.

Other opponents are France and Uzbekistan.

The women of the German Table Tennis Association (DTTB), who compete without the injured former European champion Petrissa Solja (Langstadt), also have to play against India in their first game on Saturday.

Team European Champion Germany competes in China without the silver trio from Tokyo.

National coach Jörg Roßkopf did without his old stars Timo Boll (Düsseldorf) and Dimitrij Ovtcharov (Neu-Ulm), who are still in form after injuries, and Patrick Franziska (Saarbrücken), who recently became a father for the first time.