01 Oct 2018

Crowned European champion for a record seventh time at the Liebherr 2018 ITTF European Championships in Alicante; it is progress for Germany’s Timo Boll on the Men’s World Rankings published on Monday 1st October.

He advances one place to no.3, being behind China’s Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin who retain the respective top two places; notably as with Timo Boll, the number seven is relevant for Fan Zhendong. It is the seventh month in succession he has occupied top spot.

by Ian Marshall, Editor

Promotion for Timo Boll means that it is one place down the order for colleague Dimitrij Ovtcharov, two places for Lin Gaoyuan, also from China. Dimitrij Ovtcharov now stands at no.4, Lin Gaoyuan at no.5.

Changes, for the next in line, it is as in September; China’s Ma Long retains the no.6 spot, being followed by Korea Republic’s Lee Sangsu, Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto and Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting. Likewise from Japan, Koki Niwa appears at no.10, changing positions with Brazil’s Hugo Calderano who now stands at no.11; Jun Mizutani, like Tomokazu Harimoto from Japan, retains the no.12 spot.

Changes but it is further down the order that the most prominent changes are witnessed. Following his efforts on the Seamaster 2018 ITTF World Tour in both Bulgaria and the Czech Republic, England’s Liam Pitchford moves from no.31 to no.23; likewise, amongst the most prominent names, Japan’s Jin Ueda is now at no.36, having previously been the owner of the no.47 spot.

Well-deserved progress, most creditably, there is a well-merited advance for Romania’s Ovidiu Ionescu, the player beaten by Timo Boll in the Alicante final; he climbs from no.59 to no.46.

Furthermore, there a family progress. Iranian brothers, Nima Alamian and Noshad Alamiyan, advance. Nima moves from no.84 to no.65, Noshad from no.94 to no.73; likewise, in a similar vein, Finland’s Benedek Olah climbs from no.92 to no.82, England’s Sam Walker from no.99 to no.89 and Aliaksandr Khanin of Belarus from no.102 to no.92.

Progress but of course there are those who must make way. Significantly, Germany’s Bastian Steger falls from no.34 to no.47, Croatia’s Andrej Gacina from no.46 to no.59, Hong Kong’s Ng Pak Nam from no.66 to no.51 and Austria’s Stefan Fegerl from no.51 to no.66.

Also, it is down the order for China’s Fang Bo and Liang Jingkun as it is for Japan’s Masaki Yoshida and Kazuhiro Yoshimura. Fang Bo falls from no.39 to no.61, Liang Jingkun from no.64 to no.80; meanwhile, Masaki Yoshida descends from no.60 to no.75, Kazuhiro Yoshimura formerly at no.71, now occupies the no.83 spot.

Monday 1st October: Latest World Rankings

World Ranking Fan Zhendong Timo Boll