(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)
Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin are solidly ahead of the pack, but who else is in the top 20? In third position is Ma Long who maintains a moderate lead over Hugo Calderano. Tomokazu Harimoto is in fifth, only 125 points behind Calderano. Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan are sixth and seventh. Korea’s Jang Woojin is now No. 8. Lin Yun-Ju of Taipel and Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany round out the Top 10.
With Lin Shidong at No. 12, and Zhou Qihao at No. 20, China now has over a third (7) of the Top 20. Germany has two with Ovtcharov (No. 10) and Dang Qiu (No. 12). Korea has two with Jang Woojing (No. 8) and Lim Jonghoon (No. 18). Sweden has two with Truls Moregard (No. 15) and Anton Kallberg (No. 19), and France has two with the Lebrun brothers (Alexis at No. 14, and Felix at No. 16). The other five countries in the Top 20 are Brazil (Calderano at No. 4), Japan (Harimoto at No. 5), Taipei (Lin Yun-Ju at No. 9), Slovenia (Jorgic at No. 11), and Nigeria (with Quadri Aruna at No. 17).
China also holds seven spots in the Women’s Top 20. They hold the top six positions (Sun, Chen, Chen, Wang, Wang, Qian) and they hold No. 11 (Zhang Rui). Japan is also dominant with four positions (Mima Ito at 7, Hayata and 8, Harimoto at 14, and Hirano at 17). Germany is the only other country with more than one player in the Top 20 – with Yang Han at No. 10 and Nina Mittelham at No. 19. The other seven countries in the top 20 are Korea (Shin Yubin), Monaco (Xiaoxin Yang), Puerto Rico (Adriana Diaz), Taipei (Cheng I-Ching), Romania (Bernadette Szocs), Austria (Sofia Polcanova), and France (Jia Nan Yuan). USA’s Lily Zhang is at No. 28.
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