They will be joined by Italy, who also bounce back to the top division following a four-year absence, with teams from Brazil and Sweden achieving the feat on the women's half of the competition.

Liam Pitchford was key to England returning to the Championships division for the first time since 1997, when the tournament took place in Manchester, after he won eight out of his nine matches in Tokyo's Metropolitan Gymnasium.

"Obviously we are over the moon with the result, we had two tough matches today and thankfully it ended in our favour," he said.

"We knew it had been a while since we had been in the top division and I hope it will be a major boost for us and that we can cause some surprises in two years time."

A semi-final victory against Slovakia was the all important game for England's success in Japan as they claimed a 3-2 win to book a place in the final against Italy and ensure their spot in the Championships when the tournament makes its way to Kuala Lumpur in 2016, while a 3-0 win against the Czech Republic secured Italy's safe passage into the final.

On the women's side, Brazil and Spain both managed 3-2 wins against Thailand and Lithuania respectively to progress to the division two final and ensure qualification to the top division of women's table tennis.

It took Japan's women more than four hours and 23 games to overcome a resilient Dutch squad in the ITTF World Team Championships quarterfinals in Japan ©ITTF

In the Yoyogi Gymnasium, it was quarterfinal day for the Championship division, as teams battled it out for a semi-final berth, which would guarantee them at least a bronze medal.

It took more than four hours and 23 individual games for hosts Japan to book their spot in the women's semi-finals as they battled past a gallant Dutch squad in the most enthralling ties of the day.

Japan will now face Hong Kong in tomorrow's semi-final as they cruised to a 3-0 win over Germany.

The other semi-final sees defending champions China, who are yet to drop a game in this year's tournament, up against 2010 champions Singapore.

In the men's contest, the highlight of the day came in the match between Chinese Taipei and South Korea as fifth seeds, Chinese Taipei, fought back from 2-0 to secure a 3-2 victory and seal their place in the semi-final.

They will now face the dominant Chinese men's team who are looking to seal a seventh straight World Team Championship title.

In the other half of the draw, Germany scored an easy 3-0 victory against Singapore and will be playing host nation Japan in the tomorrow's semi-final, a rematch of the encounter from two years ago that Germany won 3-1.

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