03 Jun 2019

Elevated to the highest of all in March 2018, for the 15th consecutive edition, China’s Fan Zhendong retains his no.1 position on the men’s world rankings issued for June.

As in the May listings, he remains ahead of colleagues Lin Gaoyuan and Xu Xin with Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto once again in the no.4 spot.

by Ian Marshall, Editor

Notably, even though winning the men’s singles title on home soil at the recently concluded Seamaster 2019 ITTF World Tour Platinum China Open, Ma Long remains at no.5 ahead of Germany’s Timo Boll who changes places with China’s Liang Jingkun.

Similarly, Brazil’s Hugo Calderano retains his no.8 spot being ahead of Mattias Falck, previously at no.11, at the time the best of his career, the no.9 spot is yet another new high for the Swede.

Mattias Falck, a career high ranking (Photo: Rémy Gros)

 

Meanwhile, Korea’s Jang Woojin and Lee Sangsu each drop one place, being ahead of Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov who completes the top 12 names; in the May list he occupied the no.15 spot.

New heights for Mattias Falck, it is the same for Tomislav Pucar, semi-finalist on home turf at the Seamaster 2019 ITTF World Tour Croatia Open, he continues his policy of achieving new heights. Starting the year at no.70; in May he had climbed to no.43, now he stands at no.39.

Tomislav Pucar excelled on home soil (Photo: Robert Valai)

 

Progress; there is also major progress for Poland’s Jakub Dyjas, England’s Paul Drinkhall and Puerto Rico’s Brian Afanador, all players who excelled on the Seamaster 2019 ITTF Challenge Series in May.

The runner up in Slovenia, Jakub Dyjas moves from no.70 to no.59; Paul Drinkhall, the winner in Serbia advances from no.114 to 90, Brian Afanador, who also excelled in Serbia by reaching the semi-final round, climbs from no.117 to no.92. Thus for the first time in his career he breaks the 100 mark barrier and achieves a whole new status.

New heights for Brian Afanador, a semi-finalist in Serbia (Photo: Vidoje Manojlovic)

 

Climbing the ladder, in addition, China’s Yu Ziyang, who reached the second round at the Seamaster 2019 ITTF World Tour Platinum China Open, moves from no.102, to no.64. Also, Korea Republic’s Park Ganghyeon advances from no.78 to no.66, Argentina’s Horacio Cifuentes for no.86 to no.75. In a similar vein Croatia’s Andrej Gacina progresses from no.95 to no.76 and not to be left out, Portugal’s João Geraldo from no.112 to no.94.

Significantly making way; Japan’s Kazukiro Yoshimura drops from no.36 to no.49, Korea Republic’s Jeong Sangeun from no.35 to no.57. Likewise, Egypt’s Omar Assar falls from no.53 to no.65 and China’s Zhou Qihao from no.63 to no.80.

A drop down the order for Zhou Qihao (Photo: Ireneusz Kanabrodzki)

 

June 2019: World Ranking Lists

World Ranking Fan Zhendong