by Ian Marshall, Editor
Most notably in the men’s order of merit, both Fan Zhendong and Ma Long make progress; respectively, they are now next in line to Xu Xin. Formerly Fan Zhendong was at no.3, Ma Long at no.5. The players to make way are Chinese national team colleague, Lin Gaoyuan, he drops from no.2 to no.4 and Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto. He falls one position to no.5.
Immediately following is Brazil’s Hugo Calderano, he moves from no.7 to no.6 being one ahead of Sweden’s Mattias Falck who now becomes the top European name. Germany’s Timo Boll remains in the no.8 spot.
Career Highs
Furthermore, it is the highest career ranking for Mattias Falck, as it is amongst the leading names for England’s Liam Pitchford and Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju. Liam Pitchford climbs from no.15 to no.12, Lin Yun-Ju from no.16 to no.13. The rankings reflect a year of quite outstanding progress for all three players. Last August, Mattias Falck was listed at no.29, Liam Pitchford at no.48, Lin Yun-Ju at no.36.
Progress for Mattias Falck in particular, means that China’s Liang Jingkun drops from no.6 to no.9; conversely, Japan’s Koki Niwa climbs from no.12 to no.10. Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov remains at no.11.
New heights for Mattias Falck, Liam Pitchford and Lin Yun-Ju; it is the same for China’s Wang Chuqin and Zheng Peifeng. Both make significant progress; Wang Chuqin climbs from no.71 to no.26, Zheng Peifeng from no.41 to no.28. Similarly, if we look back one year, at the beginning of August, Wang Chuqin stood at no.93; Zheng Peifeng had no global status. Later in the month he made his presence felt; he won on the ITTF World Tour in the Czech Republic.
Down the order for Liu Shiwen
China the prominent force, it is the same on the women’s list. They occupy the top five places; the most notable movement being the fall of Liu Shiwen, she drops from no.2 to no.5. Rather differently, for Ding Ning, Zhu Yuling and Wang Manyu, who follow Cheng Meng, each climbs one position.
Down the order for Liu Shiwen, for Sun Yingsha, the winner in Australia in July, it is up the order; she moves from no.11 to no.7 being one place behind Japan’s Kasumi Ishikawa who remains at no.6. Progress for Sun Yingsha; it means that for Kasumi Ishikawa’s colleagues Mima Ito and Miu Hirano it is one place lower, as it is for Chinese Taipei’s Cheng I-Ching. Mima Ito appears at no.8 being ahead of Cheng I-Ching and Miu Hirano. Hong Kong’s Doo Hoi Kem and Singapore’s Feng Tianwei each advance one place to complete the top 12 names.
Notably, it is a career high ranking for Sun Yingsha as it is for one further worthy name; Romania’s Bernadette Szocs climbs from no.19 to no.14, a climb that like Sun Yingsha reflects a year of progress. In August 2018, Bernadette Szocs was listed at no.32, Sun Yingsha occupied the no.25 spot.
Satsuki Odo assumes top place
Meanwhile, on the age group rankings, on the under 15 rankings, China’s Chen Yuanyu and Kuai Man retain top spots on the respective boys’ and girls’ world rankings, as on the under 18 listings do Russia’s Lev Katsman and China’s Shi Xunyao.
However, in the under 21 order of merit, there is a change. Austria’s Andreas Levenko retains his top billing on the men’s list but on the women’s ranking there is a change. Japan’s Satsuki Odo advances one position and replaces colleague Miyu Nagasaki at the top of the list. Miyu Nagasaki drops to no.4.
World Rankings: August 2019