The International Table Tennis Federation will celebrate a centennial World Championships next year, and it will return to the place where it all began in 1926 - London, England. One player who is fueling motivation from the home ground event is Team JOOLA's Liam Pitchford. 

The English table tennis star, formerly ranked number 12 in the world, was pushing his way back up the rankings and broke back into the world's top 50 in July following a strong performance at the WTT US Smash. Unfortunately an injury put a swift end to his season and consultations indicated that surgery would be necessary.

The timing couldn't have been worse for Pitchford, however with his movements becoming restricted and hip cartilage wearing down, the pain from continuing to compete in table tennis had become too great.

"I tried to play through it as long as I could but there was a lot of severe pain especially when you are essentially in a squat stance for table tennis. The surgery needed to be done now if I wanted to continue playing," says Pitchford. 

After a successful surgery, resurfacing and the addition of a ceramic coating, Liam hopes the fix will do the trick to get him back out on the table as he looks to 2026 and beyond. 

The British 4-time Olympian will spend 6 weeks on crutches, but has already been slowly back on a stationary bike. "I've slowly been getting movement back, I can likely start proper physical rehab around mid-January when I'm off the crutches."

While Pitchford is focused on making a 100% recovery and not rushing back, the London World Championships is certainly a significant motivation, and the timing of recovery could potentially work out in his favour if all goes to plan. 

"Me and the team are monitoring things on a daily basis and obviously in the short term it would be nice to be able to play a home World Championships here in England, but my mind is definitely more on the longer term goal of qualifying for LA."

Los Angeles would be Pitchford's 5th Olympic Games, a rare milestone in sport. He represented Team GB in London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024, already handing him the appearance record amongst English table tennis players. 

Pitchford is certainly eager to get back to the table, and is finding new motivation in being away from the table for so long. 

"I've never had such an extended time out of the game so it's been hard not to compete and to see all the events going on and not being there," Pitchford remarks.

"At the same time there is a physical and mental toll to playing through pain so it's been good to take a step back and deal with that. I do feel it's given me a new motivation to fight back to the table."

The next few months will no doubt be a great challenge, but Liam Pitchford is a player who has risen to both physical and mental challenges before in his career, continuing to perform at the highest level and cement his reputation in the sport. 

Team JOOLA wish Liam the very best with his recovery and are proud to support his journey back to the table in 2026!