Liam Pitchford has claimed his place in the last 16 at the WTT Champions Macao, where he will face Truls Moregard, the recent Olympic silver medalist.

Pitchford, competing in his first world event since the Olympic Games, began his campaign against Nicholas Lum of Australia—a familiar face for National Coach John Murphy, the former Australian national coach.

Liam led game one 10-7 before the young Australian talent, ranked number 33 in the world, leveled at 10-10. However, the England number one managed to keep his composure and closed out the first game 13-11.

Pitchford, currently world-ranked 38—five places lower than his opponent—then really kicked on, showcasing and utilizing his experience. He took a 6-0 lead and won the second game 11-3. Liam’s dominance continued into the third game, where he again secured a comfortable 6-0 lead, making any comeback for the Australian extremely difficult. He earned his first match point at 10-2 and seized it on the first attempt, winning the final game 11-2 and achieving an overall 3-0 victory over his higher-ranked opponent.

In the last 16, Liam will face a familiar opponent and silver medalist from the Paris Olympic Games, Sweden’s Truls Moregard. Truls took victory the last time the two met in 2024, while Liam secured a 4-3 win in the 2023 ITTF Europe Top 16 Quarter Final. The Swede overcame Shunsuke Togami of Japan 3-1 to book his place in the last 16.

Liam may not have been the only familiar English star to play a part in the last 32 fixture. For those watching live, you may have heard a new voice in the commentary box: none other than former England national team member Hannah Hicks, who is commentating at her first event—the WTT Champions in Macao.

When speaking to Hannah about her commentary role, she said, “Iulia reached out to me to ask if I would be interested in doing some commentary roles in the future, and as much as it terrified me, I thought, why not! It would be a fun thing to do.”