Zhang Jike, Ma Long & Xu Xin Lead The July World Ranking (Video)

The Japan and Brazil Open took place in June and both have attracted many world-famous athletes. These two competitions are also the major factor in the movements seen in the July world rankings.

Since the Chinese Team is already in their preparation for the London Olympics, they were missing in action in Kobe and in Santos. However, this did not put the rankings of the Chinese players in total jeopardy. 

Zhang Jike is still on top of the men's division with 2921 points. Last month, Zhang Jike only had a one-point difference from Ma Long. Now, the difference was increased to 10 points. Xu Xin and Wang Hao follow in the third and fourth place respectively.

Ma Lin fell one place and occupied the sixth place. Wang Liqin is still in the top 10, sitting in ninth place. 

The winner in Kobe last month, Jun Mizutani reaps the fruits of his labor as he advanced two places to the fifth place, his best ranking ever. He actually forced Ma Lin and Timo Boll to step down. 

Jun Mizutani vs Oh Sang Eun 2012 Japan Open  
video kindly shared by TTPoster

The German superstar fell to the seventh place. On records, this is the lowest ranking for Timo Boll since September of 2008 where he also sat in the seventh place. The Japan Open was actually the first and only appearance of Timo Boll durng this year's season of the World Tour competitions so far. In that competition, he was ousted by the brave Jung Young Sik of South Korea in the Round 32.

Meanwhile, Dimitrij Ovtcharov, the second player of the German Olympic Team, is now in twelfth place.

South Koreans Joo Se Hyuk and Oh Sang Eun are in the tenth and eleventh place respectively. Chuang Chih Yuan of Chinese Taipei completes the top ten in the men division. 

Probably the biggest jump belongs to Jung Young Sik. From June ranking of 120, he leaped one half of his ranking and enters in the top 100 in the 60th spot. 

As for the women division, Chinese army of Ding Ning, Liu Shiwen, Li Xiaoxia, and Guo Yan lead the way in the top four spots. Guo Yue slipped two places to 8th place. 

Feng Tianwei is the only Singaporean player left in the top 10 of the world ranking as she levels herself with Guo Yue in the eighth spot. Wang Yuegu slid four places down to the eleventh spot while Li Jiawei also decreased to 15th place. 

Japanese beauties Kasumi Ishikawa and Ai Fukuhara are still in the top 10. Ishikawa stepped one notch down to the sixth spot while Fukuhara stepped up to seventh place. Tie Yana is in the tenth place. 

Kim Kyung Ah vs Feng Tianwei 2012 Brazil Open
video kindly shared by TableTennisEvents

The winner in Brazil and the runner up in Kobe earned her rightful place in the world rankings as she jumped six places to the fifth spot. With her continuous positive results, Kim Kyung Ah is now on her second highest ranking on her career since October 2010 where she sat in the fourth place. 

Photo source:  t.qq.com