11/4/2009       

Following their efforts at the World Team Cup in Linz and the English Open in Sheffield, China’s Xu Xin and Japan’s Seiya Kishikawa are the two players to make the most dramatic rises in the Men’s World Ranking list published by the International Table Tennis Federation on Wednesday 4th November 2009.

Xu Xin moves from no.40 to no.24 whilst Seiya Kishikawa advances from no.59 to no.32. It is the highest ranking of both players’ careers; the previous best for Xu Xin was no.34 earlier in the year in July and August, whilst for Seiya Kishikawa it was no.55 in July.

Climbing Higher
Also making notable progress on the newly published men’s list are Seiya Kishikawa’s colleague, Kenta Matsudaira plus the Portuguese trio of João Monteiro, Tiago Apolonia and Marcos Freitas.

Kenta Matsudaira and Tiago Apolonia enjoy career high places, whilst for João Monteiro it’s almost back to his best.

Notable Steps Forward
Currently retaining the no.1 position on the ITTF Under18 Boys’ Rankings, Kenta Matsudaira, moves from no.55 to no.46, his previous best being no.50 in July; similarly Tiago Apolonia advances from his previous best of no.70 to no.61.

Not a career high but for Marcos Freitas and João Monteiro notable progress and a return to former glory.

João Monteiro moves from no.53 to no.47, his previous best being no.46 in December 2008, whilst Marcos Freitas climbs from no.98 to no.84, his record high being no.76 in November 2008.

No Change
Creditable progress but for the top ten, there is no change.

The Chinese are predominant. Wang Hao, Ma Long and Ma Lin occupy the top three places, Wang Liqin is at no.5 with Hao Shuai at no.7 and Chen Qi two places lower at no.9

Korea’s joo Se Hyuk completes the list appearing at no.10 with Germany’s Timo Boll at no.4, Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus at no.6 and Denmark’s Michael Maze at no.8

Small Movements
No change for leading men and no change for the top ranked Under 21 male players. Ma Long appears at no.1 followed by Japan’s Jun Mizutani and Germany’s Dimitrij Otcharov.

However, in the Under 18 Boys’ Ranking and Under 15 Boys’ Ranking there are small movements at the top.

China’s Jin Yixiong retains second spot on the Under 18 Boys’ Rankings behind Kenta Matsudaira but immediately below it is change places. Singapore’s Ma Liang moves from no.4 to no.3, China’s Ying Hang moves in the reverse direction.

Similar
Similarly, in the Under 15 Boys’ Rankings, the top player, China’s Yin Hang, retains his billing but immediately below it is a change in the pecking order. Japan’s Koki Niwa and China’s Zheng Peifeng change place; the former is now at no.2, the latter at no.3.