Ma Long And Ding Ning Lead In December World Rankings

The month of November had a lot of interesting matches such as the World Cups and the ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals. Yesterday, the first day of December, ITTF released the latest World Rankings which showed the power and potential of the younger generations against the more experienced paddlers.

The men's rankings is a perfect example. Two of the important names in table tennis, Ma Lin and Vladimir Samsonov posted a significant downward movement in the rankings. The reigning Olympic champion Ma Lin is now on his worst position since eleven years ago in number 7. Ma Lin actually dropped two places since the previous ranking in 2627 points.

While Ma Lin retains his place in the top ten, Vladimir Samsonov from Belarus is now totally out of the elite group which he enjoyed for 16 long years. Now, Samsonov dropped five big steps to the fourteenth place with 2471 points and his worst ranking since 1996.

While these veterans fell from their comfort zones, the younger generations continue to show their impressive potential and strength. First on the list is the reigning world cup champion Zhang Jike who maintains an upward trend. From being in the third spot, Zhang Jike stepped up to number two overtaking Wang Hao. The former number one player Wang Hao is now in the third spot which is his first time to be out from the top two for eleven months. Wang Hao just celebrated his 28th birthday yesterday while Zhang Jike is much younger in 23.

Meanwhile, the ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals winner Ma Long retains the top spot with just 39 points away from Zhang Jike in 2937 points. The German Timo Boll is in status quo as well in the fourth place with 2702 points. Timo Boll lost in the quarterfinal round against Joo Se Hyuk in the World Cup then failed to be qualified for the Pro Tour Grand Finals. The Chinese Xu Xin completes the world's top five players in the ranking as he went three places up and replaced compatriot Ma Lin with 2661 points.  

Other notable players are the Korean Joo Se Hyuk and Dimitrij Ovtharov from Germany. The world's best chopper Joo Se Hyuk demonstrated an increase in the rankings from the tenth place to ninth place. Thanks to his incredible performance in the World Cup against Timo Boll.

Despite Samsonov's fall from the top ten, another European made his way into the elite group and he is the second German Dimitrij Ovtcharov. In the Team and Singles World Cup, Ovtcharov successfully imposed a challenging force against the powerhouse China. This eventually led him to the tenth spot in the rankings with 2544 points and confirms his threat against the Chinese paddlers.

Wang Liqin retains the sixth spot with 2658 points while Jun Mizutani dropped one place to number eight with 2614 points. They complete the top ten of the Men's Rankings.

In addition to Ovtcharov, Europeans Adrien Mattenet from France and Kirik Skachkov of Russia climbed up the rankings as well. Mattenet is now in the 19th spot from 24 while Skachkov climbed 16 places to 33.

Brazilian Gustavo Tsuboi broke into the top 100 for the first time on his career, surpassing Pan American Champion Liu Song and becoming the best player from North, Central and South America.

Japanese Koki Niwa is two positions up in 21 threatening Seiya Kishikawa's position as the second Japanese player. Korean Kim Min Seok is also going up the ladder helping configure a Korean team that's becoming stronger in the 24th spot.

As for the younger Chinese, Lin Gaoyuan tops the list as he advanced from 51 to 32 making him the rising star of the Chinese team. He is being followed by Yan An who has already shown his great potential in big competitions. Yan An just moved three places from 64 to 61.

While the men had a number of interesting movements, the women's rankings was the opposite. Their notable names are Liu Shiwen and Wang Yuegu who greatly benefited from their wonderful performances recently.

After winning the Pro Tour Grand Finals, Liu Shiwen advanced one step further to the fourth spot. She eventually forced the Singaporen star Feng Tianwei to step down in the fifth place. Liu Shiwen posted 2907 points, 66 points away from Feng Tianwei. The Chinese Ding Ning, Li Xiaoxia and Guo Yan still lead the women's rankings.

In the lower half of the top ten, the Singaporean Wang Yuegu balanced the downward movement of Feng Tianwei as she moved one place higher to number eight. Wang Yuegu exchanged places with the Japanese Ai Fukuhara who is now 43 points away in the ninth place.

Guo Yue in sixth place, Kasumi Ishikawa in seventh place and Tie Yana in tenth place complete the lower half of the top ten for the Women's Rankings.

Photo source: news.xinhuanet.com