29 Apr 2019

Medallists at the recently concluded Liebherr 2019 World Championships in Budapest, China’s Ma Long and Liang Jingkun, alongside Sweden’s Mattias Falck and Korea Republic’s An Jaehyun, climb the men’s world rankings; however, the name at the very top of the May list issued on Monday 29th April remains the same.

Once again, for the 14th consecutive monthly publication, despite a fourth round exit in Budapest, Fan Zhendong is at the head of the order.

by Ian Marshall, Editor

The status quo for Fan Zhendong, for his colleagues there is major progress, Ma Long climbs from no.11 to no.5; Liang Jingkun advances from one career high to another. He moves from no.9 to no.6.

Similarly, for Mattias Falck, the runner up in Budapest, it is unchartered waters, he progresses from no.16 to no.11; his previous best being earlier this year at no.13 in both January and February. Progress but none can match An Jaehyun, like Liang Jingkun, a bronze medallist in the Hungarian capital city; he advances from no.157 to an unprecedented no.73.

New heights, it is the same for Lin Gaoyuan, who despite a quarter-final exit in Budapest at the hands of colleague, Ma Long, climbs one place to no.2, the highest ranking of his career. The effect is that Xu Xin, also from China, drops one place, being one step ahead of Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto who remains at no.4.

A drop down the list for Xu Xin, it is the same for Germany’s Timo Boll who descends two places to no.7, whilst for Brazil’s Hugo Calderano it is fall of one position to no.8. Next in line are the Korea Republic’s Jang Woojin and Lee Sangsu. Jang Woojin advances one rung up the ladder to no.9, for Lee Sangsu it is a drop of four positions to no.10. Japan’s Koki Niwa, formerly at no.8, now completes the top 12 names.

Meanwhile, within the top 50 names there is major progress for Croatia’s Tomislav Pucar, who advanced to the fourth round in Budapest. He moves from no.58 to no.43. Notable progress and as you scroll further down the list the names, Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro, Korea Republic’s Park Ganghyeon and China’s Zhen Peifeng alongside that of Germany’s Qiu Dang stand out.

Thiago Monteiro progresses from no.91 to no.71, Park Ganghyeon from no.116 to no 78; likewise Zheng Peifeng climbs from no.84 to no.64, Qiu Dang from no.98 to no.72.

Monday 29th April: Complete World Rankings

World Ranking ma long Fan Zhendong Mattias Falck Liang Jingkun An Jaehyun