by Ian Marshall, Editor

Once again, as in January, colleagues Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin occupy the top two respective positions; the player to make way for Lin Gaoyuan being Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto. He drops one place to no.4.

Germany’s Timo Boll remains at no.5, followed as the previous month by Korea Republic’s Lee Sangsu and Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting; Japan’s Koki Niwa and Jun Mizutani are once again the next in the pecking order. Also from Korea’s Republic Jang Woojin and China’s Ma Long complete the top 12 names.

Very much the status quo but most notably for China’s Liang Jingkun, the winner at the Seamaster 2018 ITTF World Tour Austrian Open and the evergreen Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus, who secured his first ITTF World Tour title in 1996 in Bolzano, there is progress. Liang Jingkun climbs from no.20 to no.16; Vladimir Samsonov, having been at low as no.54 last July, moves from no.23 to no.20.

Meanwhile, further down the order, China’s Zhou Yu and Zhou Qihao both make progress. Zhou Yu, despite his opening round disqualification in Hungary when facing Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan, climbs from no.61 to no.43; Zhou Qihao from no.117 to no.100.

Similarly, there is notable progress for Russia’s Alexander Shibaev and the Czech Republic’s Pavel Sirucek; both on duty in Hungary, Alexander Shibaev moves from no.94 to no.75, Pavel Sirucek from no.97, no.85.

Progress but four most worthy names there is a notable drop down the order. Chinese Taipei’s Liao Cheng-Ting falls from no.53 to no.65, Portugal’s João Geraldo from no.91 to no.117.

Likewise, China’s Liu Dingshuo drops from no.41 to no.66, colleague Wang Chuqin falls from no.83 to no.94; the descent for the gold medallist at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games being no doubt contrary to his expectations. In Hungary he was the runner up, beating Fan Zhendong on route!

World Rankings: Complete lists for February 2019