China’s MA Long has reclaimed the men’s top position and DING Ning extends her run to 21 weeks as world number one on the International Table Tennis Federation’s World Rankings released in July. MA Long overtook team mate XU Xin, who has,
China’s MA Long has reclaimed the men’s top position and DING Ning extends her run to 21 weeks as world number one on the International Table Tennis Federation’s World Rankings released in July.
MA Long overtook team mate XU Xin, who has occupied the number one spot for the past two month on the back of his ruthless performance at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour China Open in Changchun where he clinched gold.
June is the 24th month that MA Long has occupied the top spot, after first reaching the prestigious position in January 2010.
“I’m pleased to be back at no.1 of course but it doesn’t mean that I’m the best player in the team; I know I have to fight for my place”, said the 24 year old. “The last time I was at number 1 was in April after I was the runner up in Kuwait and the winner in Qatar; my aim now is to maintain the top place.”
Two silver medals over the past two months earned WANG Hao (CHN) the number three position in the rankings to go with his recent marriage. An injury which cut short World Champion ZHANG Jike’s (CHN) run at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour China Open meant he moved back down to number four.
Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER) moves up to the number six position, which is the highest of his career, and just one sport behind his team mate and former number one Timo BOLL (GER).
The biggest movers of the month was the Japan Open Men’s Singles Champion, Masato SHIONO (JPN), who moved from number 188, to a career high number 85.
2011 World Champion DING Ning (CHN) retains her position at the top of the Women’s World Rankings, which she has held for an incredible 21 consecutive months, which dates back to November 2011.
Despite her 21 months of dominance, DING Ning will be looking anxiously over her shoulder as team mate and rival LI Xiaoxiao has closed the gap to just 6 points after winning the World Table Tennis Championships in May and the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour China Open in June. She moved up to second position ahead of the woman she beat in the World Table Tennis Championships final, LIU Shiwen (CHN).
Olympic bronze medalist FENG Tianwei (SIN) stays stagnant in fourth sport.
Turkey’s Hu MELEK continues her rise up the World Ranking, as she climbs from 50 to 38 and Germany’s Shan XIAONA moves from 77 to 47.
