He did it again. This week at the WTT United States Smash in Los Angeles, Denmark’s Anders Lind walked out against the best table tennis player on the planet — reigning World Champion and world No. 1 Wang Chuqin — and beat him 3–1. The scoreline read 13–11, 11–2, 8–11, 11–7, and with it Wang’s bid to become the first man to win three straight WTT Grand Smash titles was over before the quarterfinals.
“I feel euphoric,” Lind said afterwards. It was the second time he has sent the Chinese superstar packing on the sport’s biggest stage. So how do you beat the World Champion? Let’s tell the story.
The man on the other side of the table
To understand the size of the upset, you have to understand who Wang Chuqin is. The 26-year-old left-hander is an Olympic gold medallist from Paris 2024 in both the mixed doubles and the team event, and in May 2025 he finally captured the men’s singles crown at the World Championships in Doha, becoming the first left-handed World Champion since France’s Jean-Philippe Gatien in 1993. He has sat at world No. 1, captains the Chinese men’s team, and arrived in Los Angeles as the two-time defending Smash champion. In short: the most complete player in the world, in the form of his life.
Anders Lind, by contrast, is the outsider — a Dane ranked around world No. 15, the kind of player the Chinese machine is supposed to brush aside. Supposed to.
Beijing, 2024: the first earthquake
The first time was arguably the more shocking. At the China Smash in October 2024, on Wang’s home soil in Beijing, in front of a partisan crowd roaring for their hero, Lind knocked out the world No. 1 in the round of 32, 3–1 (13–11, 9–11, 11–6, 11–7). Wang had come in riding a 13-match winning streak at Grand Smash level and chasing a clean sweep of the season’s titles. Lind ended it all with a bold, unconventional game that never let Wang settle into rhythm.
Lind later admitted that towards the end he was so nervous he felt like throwing up — and that the feeling afterwards was so surreal he half-expected to wake up and find the match had never happened. You can relive that first upset here:
- Full match — Wang Chuqin vs Anders Lind, China Smash 2024 (R32)
- Highlights — Wang Chuqin vs Anders Lind, China Smash 2024
Singapore, February 2026: the champion strikes back
Champions don’t stay embarrassed for long. When the two met again at the Singapore Smash in February 2026, Wang had done his homework. He edged a much tighter, more controlled contest 3–1 to reach the quarterfinals and settle the score. Heading into Los Angeles, Wang led their head-to-head — victories at the 2023 World Championships and Singapore against Lind’s single Beijing triumph. The champion looked to have the measure of his tormentor.
Los Angeles, 2026: this is how you beat the World Champion
And then Lind did it all over again. Out of the blocks he took four of the first five points and saved a game point to steal the opener 13–11. The second game was a rout — 11–2 — leaving the defending champion with a mountain to climb. Wang, being Wang, clawed one back to take the third 11–8. But Lind held his nerve down the stretch and closed out the fourth 11–7 to win the match and dump the World Champion out in the round of 16. The head-to-head is now level at 2–2, and Lind marches on to face Japan’s Sora Matsushima in the quarterfinals.
So — how do you beat the World Champion?
Twice now, the same blueprint has worked. Lind doesn’t try to out-Wang Wang. Instead he brings a game that is unpredictable and unorthodox — sharp, awkward serves; bold shot selection; forehand and backhand counters that arrive from unexpected angles. He denies the World Champion the one thing every great player needs: rhythm. He starts fast, throws the favourite off balance early, and then refuses to blink when the inevitable fightback comes.
There’s a lesson in there that travels well beyond a table tennis hall. The best in the world are beatable — not by copying them, but by playing a game they can’t quite read, backing yourself completely, and holding your nerve at the moment it matters most. Anders Lind has now shown it isn’t a fluke. It’s a method.
Godt gået, Anders. 🇩🇰
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