1981 World Table Tennis Championships – Men's team
# 1981 World Table Tennis Championships – Men's team

The 1981 World Table Tennis Championships – Swaythling Cup (men's team) was the 36th edition of the men's team championship.

China won the gold medal defeating Hungary 5–2 in the final. Japan won the bronze medal.

## Medalists

| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| - | - | - | - |
| | China Cai Zhenhua Guo Yuehua Shi Zhihao Wang Huiyuan Xie Saike | Hungary Gábor Gergely István Jónyer Tibor Klampár Tibor Kreisz Zsolt Kriston | Japan Hiroyuki Abe Hideo Gotoh Masahiro Maehara Seiji Ono Norio Takashima |

## Swaythling Cup tables

### Group A

| Pos | Team | P | W | L | Pts |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | China | 7 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 2 | Japan | 7 | 5 | 2 | 5 |
| 3 | England | 7 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| 4 | South Korea | 7 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | France | 7 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| 6 | Sweden | 7 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| 7 | West Germany | 7 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| 8 | Indonesia | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | P | W | L | Pts |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Hungary | 7 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 2 | Czechoslovakia | 7 | 5 | 2 | 5 |
| 3 | Yugoslavia | 7 | 5 | 2 | 5 |
| 4 | Poland | 7 | 5 | 2 | 5 |
| 5 | North Korea | 7 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| 6 | Italy | 7 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
| 7 | Soviet Union | 7 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| 8 | Australia | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 |

## Semifinals

| Team One | Team Two | Score |
| - | - | - |
| Japan | Hungary | 1–5 |
| China | Czechoslovakia | 5–0 |

## Third-place playoff

| Team One | Team Two | Score |
| - | - | - |
| Japan | Czechoslovakia | 5–1 |

## Final

| China 5 | | Hungary 2 | Score |
| - | - | - | - |
| Shi Zhihao | lost to | Jónyer | 17–21 21–23 |
| Xie Saike | bt | Jónyer | 21–15 21–19 |
| Cai Zhenhua | bt | Klampár | 21–17 22–24 22–20 |
| Shi Zhihao | lost to | Klampár | 21–13 17–21 19–21 |
| Xie Saike | bt | Klampár | 15–21 21–16 21–15 |
| Xie Saike | bt | Gergely | 21–17 22–24 22–20 |
| Cai Zhenhua | bt | Gergely | 21–16 14–21 21–15 |
