by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
The dramatic rise somewhat overshadows the progress of Egypt’s Omar Assar. He makes equally outstanding progress following his quarter-final appearance in Linz; setting new standards for Africa he moves ten places to no.21.
Likewise, there is notable progress for Chinese Taipei’s Chen Chien-An and Spain’s Alvaro Robles, as well as for Frenchman Quentin Robinot and Xue Fei, like Lin Gaoyuan also from China.
Chen Chien-An moves from no.45 to no.33; Alvaro Robles from no.93 to no.70. Likewise, Quentin Robinot, formerly at no.85 appears at no.72 with Xue Fei, the Under 21 Men’s Singles winner in Austria now appearing at no.85. Formerly, the young man who keeps the pen-hold style of play alive, was listed at no.113.
Progress for Xue Fei, it is also a return to the order of merit for his colleagues, Yan An and Zhou Yu; Yan An is now named at no.17, Zhou Yu at no.47.
Meanwhile, at the very top of the order there is no change. China’s Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin continue to reserve the top three respective places with Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Timo Boll the next in line.
Dimitrij Ovtcharov retains his no.4 spot with Timo Boll advancing one position. Immediately below Zhang Jike drops one place to no.6; conversely Japan’s Jun Mizutani and Koki Niwa climb the order. Jun Mizutani is now at no.7, Koki Niwa at no.8 one place ahead of Lin Gaoyuan.
Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting, formerly in the no.7 spot, is next in line at no.10; Japan’s Kenta Matsudaira and China’s Fang Bo change places to complete the top 12 names. Notably Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus drops from no.10 to no.14.
Also moving down the order in an even more dramatic manner are Japan’s Yuto Muramatsu and Yuto Kizukuri alongside Germany’s Steffen Mengel, Romania’s Hunor Szocs and the Czech Republic’s Tomas Konecny. Yuto Muramatsu drops from no.32 to no.42, Yuto Kizukuri from no.79 to no.90; likewise Steffen Mengel falls from no.64 to no.82, whilst Hunor Szocs is now at no.83 and Tomas Konecny at no.100. Previously, Hunor Szocs was at no.67, Tomas Konecny at no.81.
No change at the very top of the Men’s World Ranking, it is the same on the Under 21 Men’s World Rankings but in the Under 18 Boys’ World Rankings, there is a change.
Fan Zhendong followed by Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto and Brazil’s Hugo Calderano continue to head the former but on the latter list, Xue Fei climbs from no.6 to no.2 .
Tomokazu Harimoto retains his top billing, Yuto Kizukuri falls one rung down the ladder to no.3; Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju retains his no.4 spot with China’s Niu Guankai now being at no.5, previously he was in the no.3 spot.
Top place retained by Tomokazu Harimoto; it is the same on the Under 15 Boys’ World Rankings where he remains once again ahead of Niu Guankai and Korea’s Cho Daeseong.