(by Steve Hopkins)
The top of the ITTF Rankings were stable this week with Chuqin, Harimoto, Moregard, Lebrun, and Shidong all safely in the top five slots. Darko Jorgic slid up two spots to No. 13 on the strength of his tour win in Skopje last weekend – and second place finisher, USA’s Kanak Jha jumped up six slots to No. 24. Jha remains the second highest ranked player from outside Asia and Europe – with Brazil’s Hugo Calderano the top player from this hemisphere at No. 8.
Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu, Miwa Harimoto, Zhu Yuling, and Chen Xingtong remain the top five women this week. There was a change to the Top 10, however, with Japan’s Satsuki Odo moving up one spot from No. 11. Lily Zhang is the top American at No. 42. USA’s Amy Wang is No. 46, and Sally Moyland is No. 65.
The next tour stop is a WTT Star Contender series event in Slovenia that starts on Tuesday with Felix Lebrun, Lin Shidong, and Hugo Calderano as the top three seeds (USA’s Kanak Jha will also be playing). The next big event is the United States Smash on June 26 in Los Angeles – with nearly all of the top 50 players competing.
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