(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)

Lin Shidong has kept the No. 1 spot in the rankings.  With this week’s World Cup starting up in Macao, there may be some shifts at the top of the rankings next week.

The biggest mover was Xiang Peng who jumped from No. 23 to No. 13 on the strength of his win last week.  Shidong and Chuqin are the top two in the Rankings, followed by Harimoto, Jingkun, and Calderano.  Felix Lebrun is No. 6 with Moregard, Franziska, Gaoyuan, and Alexis Lebrun rounding out the Top 10.  Dang Qiu and Jang Woojin are 11 and 12.

With Peng, China has five players in the Top 20.  The top non-Chinese player is Tomokazu Harimoto at No. 3.  The highest ranked non-Asian player is Hugo Calderano at No. 5.  The top European player is Felix Lebrun at No. 6.  The top player from the African continent is Omar Assar of Egypt (and Quadri Aruna of Nigeria as both are tied).  USA’s Kanak Jha is the top player from North America.  And not to leave any continent out, Finn Luu of Australia is the top player from the Oceana Region (at No. 36).

On the Women’s Side, nothing has changed across the Top 10.  Sun Yingsha has accumulated an amazing lead – with 11,300 ranking points.  Second is Wang Manyu with 7200, and Wang Yidi is in third with 4375.  The most interesting mover is Zhu Yuling, who at one point was World No. 1 for China but is now shooting up the rankings as a 30 year old player for Macao.  Not only has Zhu risen 13 slots this week, but she took out the top seed and is still in contention through the Semifinals in the WTT Contender event this week in Taiyuan.  She will definitely be in the Top 20 when the next Rankings come out.  Of interest to American fans – Lily hang is down one spot to No. 25, and Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico is No. 16.

Visit ButterflyOnline.com for the latest table tennis news and results.