(by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager)
Timo Boll, once again on top of the world
Winner at the recently concluded Europe Top 16 tournament in Montreux, Germany’s Timo Boll returns to top spot on the Men’s World Rankings; on the March 2018 list he replaces colleague, Dimitrij Ovtcharov, who now occupies the no.3 spot.
The listing means that at Germany heads the men’s seeding for the forthcoming Liebherr 2018 World Team Championships; the draw to be made in Halmstad, Sweden on Tuesday 27th February.
One place below Timo Boll, who last held the no.1 position on the Men’s World Rankings in March 2011, is China’s Fan Zhendong, the no.2 spot being the position he has held for some 18 months.
Also, from China, Lin Gaoyuan and Xu Xin retain their places behind Dimitrij Ovtcharov with Hong Kong’s Wong Chin Ting being next on the list. Now at no.6, he changes places with Japan’s Koki Niwa. One position lower Frenchman Simon Gauzy advances one place to no.8, being one step ahead of China’s Ma Long, the Olympic and World champion.
Japan’s Kenta Matsudaira, Korea’s Lee Sangsu and Tomokazu Harimoto, also from Japan, complete the top 12 names. It is the status quo for Kenta Matsudaira; for Lee Sangsu, he previously stood at no.15, Tomokazu Harimoto at no.11.
Meanwhile, lower down the order there is notable progress for Germany’s Bastian Steger, Brazil’s Gustavo Tsuboi and Romania’s Hunor Szocs as well as for England’s Liam Pitchford, Panagiotis Gionis of Greece and Kanak Jha of the United States.
Impressively, Bastian Steger climbs from no.33 to no.21, Gustavo Tsuboi from no.47 to no.66 and Hunor Szocs from no.72 to no.62. Likewise Liam Pitchford progresses from no.85 to no.53, Panagiotis Gionis from no.91 to no.68, Kanak Jha from no.88 to no.73.
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