May World Rankings 2012

The ITTF have just released the latest World rankings! The rankings were published by the International Table Tennis Federation on Thursday 3rd May 2012.

Similar to the April 2012 ITTF World Rankings, Ma Long and Ding Ning remain number one in the World in their respective Men's and Women's categories. This is the twentieth time Ma Long has been ranked at World number 1 with Ding Ning claiming the number one spot for the eighth time.

The team Liu Guoliang chose for the recent World Team Championships 2012 are still all ranked in the top 5 of the World. In order, China’s Ma Long stands at no.1 position, followed closely by Zhang Jike, Wang Hao, Xu Xin and Ma Lin.

The rankings have changed more-so at the other end of the rankings where players battled hard for Olympic places at various qualification events around the World.

Ma Long (pictured below) retains his World number 1 status



Only 1 position changed in the top 10 rankings of the men's with no.6 (Timo Boll), 7 (Jun Mizutani), 8 (Joo se Hyuk), 9 (Wang Liqin) remaining in the same positions. Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov dropped one place behind Chuang Chih Yuan. Chinese Taipei's Chuang Chih Yuan is now the 10th ranked player of the world completing the top 10 list.


Mens World Rankings

01 (<<) Ma Long
02 (<<) Zhang Jike
03 (<<) Wang Hao
04 (<<) Xu Xin
05 (<<) Ma Lin
06 (<<) Timo Boll
07 (<<) Jun Mizutani
08 (<<) Joo Se Hyuk
09 (<<) Wang Liqin
10 (11) Chuang Chih-Yuan
11 (10) Dimitrij Ovtcharov
12 (<<) Chen Qi
13 (<<) Vladimir Samsonov
14 (16) Gao Ning
15 (14) Oh Sang Eun
16 (15) Ryu Seung Min
17 (19) Koki Niwa
18 (17) Hao Shuai
19 (22) Lee Jung Woo
20 (18) Jiang Tianyi
21 (20) Seiya Kishikawa
22 (26) Bastian Steger
23 (21) Patrick Baum
24 (<<) Adrien Mattenet
25 (<<) Michael Maze
26 (23) Adrian Crisan
27 (33) Zhan Jian ^^
28 (29) Robert Gardos
29 (28) Chen Weixing
30 (35) Chu Yan Leung
31 (37) Marcos Freitas
32 (34) Tang Peng

Full list of Men's World Rankings here

Japan's Koki Niwa jumped two places to no.17 after beating Ma Long at the recent Asian Olympic Qualifications. Zhan Jian, Chu Yan Leung, Marcos Freitas and Tang Peng move up positions to complete the top 32 rankings of the world. Elsewhere in the rankings, Portugal's Joao Monteiro jumped 19 places from no.57 to 36. Japan's Chan Kazuhiro moved from position 60 to 38 after his recent form at the Chile Open World Tour.

Serbia's Aleksandar Karakasevic is now top 50 in the world with a position of 40. A career high for France's Emmanuel Lebesson as he is now in the top 50 of the world for the very first time with a ranking of 49!

A staggering jump made by Hungary's Adam Pattantyus as he is now ranked at 81 from a previous world ranking of 133. Brazil's Cazuo Matsumoto, Poland's Such Bartosz, and England's Paul Drinkhall are now all ranked inside the top 100 of the world rankings!


Womens World Rankings

1 (<<) Ding Ning
2 (03) Liu Shiwen
3 (02) Guo Yan
4 (<<) Li Xiaoxia
5 (<<) Guo Yue
6 (<<) Kasumi Ishikawa
7 (<<) Wang Yuegu
8 (09) Feng Tianwei
9 (10) Ai Fukuhara
10 (15) Kim Kyung Ah

Full list of women's World Rankings here

Kim Kyung Ah "Lady of the Moment" as she is back in the top 10 of the world rankings.


Kim Kyung Ah - Photo By: An Sung Ho

Ding Ning remains top spot of the World in the Women's category. Guo Yan and Liu Shiwen swap places with Liu Shiwen coming in at number 2 position. Li Xiaoxia and Guo Yue follow closely behind. Japan's Kasumi Ishikawa is the highest non Chinese player coming in a no. 6. The Chinese Women's team take the full 5 top spots just like the men's.

Singapore's Wang Yuegu remains at no.7. Tie Yana drops of the top 10 positions with with Feng Tianwei filling the eighth position. Japan's Ai Fukuhara follows closely behind has she jumps one place to no.9. Kim Kyungah of Korea comes in at no. 10 to completing the top 10 listings!

What do you all think of the new world rankings? Any surprises? What do you think of the rankings this period (May, 2012).

TableTennisDaily

Check this out:

Originally Posted by TableTennisDaily

10 (11) Chuang Chih-Yuan
11 (10) Dimitrij Ovtcharov
11 (<<) Chuang Chih-Yuan

hahaha, I like that, Chuang Chih-Yuan is ranked both above and below Dimaitrij Ovtcharov. hahaha

He stayed in the same place and moved up.

Originally Posted by UpSideDownCarl

Check this out:



hahaha, I like that, Chuang Chih-Yuan is ranked both above and below Dimaitrij Ovtcharov. hahaha

He stayed in the same place and moved up.

Haha! Thanks for correction Carl, I new something wasn't right there haha

I thought Koki Niwa would have jumped a bit higher defeating Ma Long at the Asian Olympic Qualifications....

It is funny, I looked at the May rankings on ITTF to see if it came from their site. It might have but, if it did, they had corrected it by the time I looked.

One time I posted something with a typo, pretty recently. And as soon as I posted it I pressed edit, and fixed the typo, and before I was done editing the typo, someone had caught it. I got a kick out of that. It made me laugh.

Thanks for posting the May rankings though.

One surprise to me, I thought Koki Niwa would have gone up more than just two slots from beating Ma Long at the Asian Olympic Qualifications. It will be fun to see how he rises in the ranks and if and how soon he will be in the top 5.

Originally Posted by UpSideDownCarl

It is funny, I looked at the May rankings on ITTF to see if it came from their site. It might have but, if it did, they had corrected it by the time I looked.

One time I posted something with a typo, pretty recently. And as soon as I posted it I pressed edit, and fixed the typo, and before I was done editing the typo, someone had caught it. I got a kick out of that. It made me laugh.

Thanks for posting the May rankings though.

One surprise to me, I thought Koki Niwa would have gone up more than just two slots from beating Ma Long at the Asian Olympic Qualifications. It will be fun to see how he rises in the ranks and if and how soon he will be in the top 5.

Haha that's funny, I was probably being quick!

By the way, I just posted a messaged about Koki Niwa not being ranked higher,, we are thinking on the same lines Carl haha! I thought Koki defeating Ma Long would have pushed Koki into top 15, considering he was the first to qualify to. Bonus points :P

Originally Posted by barca

I'm expecting Koki Niwa to improve further his world ranking in months to come..

Totally agree! He has so much potential!

Originally Posted by Dan

Haha that's funny, I was probably being quick!

By the way, I just posted a messaged about Koki Niwa not being ranked higher,, we are thinking on the same lines Carl haha! I thought Koki defeating Ma Long would have pushed Koki into top 15, considering he was the first to qualify to. Bonus points :P

I just saw that. I also saw that you posted 1 min before me. I am long winded so I was still typing and you beat me to it. hahahahaha.

I do think there are times when we are thinking alike and you post something I was about to.

Originally Posted by WiWa

Did the Asia Qualification actually count for WR? I mean for most countries the two strongest players weren't there... Of course Ma Long was, but for example Joo/Oh, Jun/Seiya weren't. So maybe it didn't count for WR. For the rest, I'm always shocked to see Hao Shuai in the top-20. Does he ever enter tournaments? I never see him. Though he is World Champ Mixed Doubles

It is true, I wonder if it did count towards world ranking.

Also, Hao Shuai. It is too bad that the CNT does not let him play more because, it is possible that he could get back into the top 10 if they did. But it seems that they never let him go to any of the singles events.

Originally Posted by UpSideDownCarl

I just saw that. I also saw that you posted 1 min before me. I am long winded so I was still typing and you beat me to it. hahahahaha.

I do think there are times when we are thinking alike and you post something I was about to.

Haha perhaps its due to virtual sixth sense! haha But you are right indeed

Originally Posted by UpSideDownCarl

It is true, I wonder if it did count towards world ranking.

Also, Hao Shuai. It is too bad that the CNT does not let him play more because, it is possible that he could get back into the top 10 if they did. But it seems that they never let him go to any of the singles events.

I think you are possibly right WiWa, however I think the European Qualifications had World Rankings as Paul Drinkhall is now in the top 100 of the World. The European Qualifications is the only tournament he played I believe. Therefore, if European Olympic Qualifications had World Rankings involved then I presume Asian Olympic Qualifications would follow..

Originally Posted by WiWa

@Carl Hao Shuai never got to play a serious tournament since the incredible loss against Maze in Shanghai 2005

Yeah. They wrote him off. And somehow he was in the top 10 at some point in 2007 and for a few months in 2010. Interesting. That was an amazing comeback by Maze.