December World Rankings 2015

The ITTF has published the new world rankings! These were released on December 2, 2015. The event results included in this ranking are the recent Swedish Open ITTF World Tour, Portugal Junior & Cadet Open and the Hungarian Junior & Cadet Open.


Ma Long reaches World Ranking number 1 for a 40th time!



Ma Long, World #1 in December 2015 - Photo by: Xinhua


Notable changes

Men
38) 47 KARLSSON Kristian
54) 76 KALLBERG Anton
55) 75 HO Kwan Kit
61) 84 WANG Eugene
63) 74 WANG Zengyi
85) 114 BROSSIER Benjamin


Men's World Rankings

Recent World Champion and World Cup winner Ma Long has been at the top of the ITTF World Rankings for a staggering 40 times. Ma Long first reached the top of the Men's World Rankings in January 2010 and slipped off due to a ankle injury prior to the London 2012 Olympics. Xu Xin took over recently, however Ma Long regained the title back in March this year.

Elsewhere, Fan Zhendong retains his 2nd position for the second period in a row. Will he reach the top spot like his compatriots Ma Long and Xu Xin? Following closely to Fan Zhendong is Xu Xin at number 3. Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov takes the next place at number 4. China's Olympic Champion Zhang Jike takes fifth position. Japan's Jun Mizutani comes in at number 6. Germany's Timo Boll swaps places with Portugal's Marcos Freitas to take no.7. Full rankings below:

01) 1 MA Long
02) 2 FAN Zhendong
03) 3 XU Xin
04) 4 OVTCHAROV Dimitrij
05) 5 ZHANG Jike
06) 6 MIZUTANI Jun
07) 8 BOLL Timo
08) 7 FREITAS Marcos
09) 10 CHUANG Chih-Yuan
10) 8 FANG Bo
11) 12 SAMSONOV Vladimir
12) 11 WONG Chun Ting
13) 14 JUNG Youngsi
14) 13 NIWA Koki
15) 17 JOO Saehyuk
16) 16 TANG Peng
17) 15 YAN An
18) 19 LEE Sangsu
19) 21 GAO Ning
20) 20 GACINA Andrej
21) 18 YOSHIMURA Maharu
22) 23 FEGERL Stefan
23) 22 GARDOS Robert
24) 25 OSHIMA Yuya
25) 26 JANG Woojin
26) 24 APOLONIA Tiago
26) 27 GIONIS Panagiotis
28) 30 MORIZONO Masataka
29) 29 MATSUDAIRA Kenta
30) LIANG Jingkun
31) 31 ASSAR Omar
32) 35 GERELL Par
33) 32 LI Ping
34) 28 GAUZY Simon
35) 33 SHIBAEV Alexander
36) 34 FILUS Ruwen
37) 35 MURAMATSU Yuto
38) 47 KARLSSON Kristian
39) 38 STEGER Bastian
40) 39 MONTEIRO Joao


Women's World Rankings

In the Women's World Rankings has seen the incredible rise of China's Mu Zi who recently won the Swedish Open. Mu Zi has stormed up the World Rankings from position 33 to 13. A career high for Mu Zi. Liu Shiwen retains her number 1 position of the World followed closely by Zhu Yuling. Ding Ning fills the third spot with Japan's Ai Fukuhara coming in closely at no.4. Fukuhara's team mate Kasumi Ishikawa fills the fifth spot. Full rankings below:

01) 1 LIU Shiwen
02) 2 ZHU Yuling
03) 3 DING Ning
04) 4 FUKUHARA Ai
05) 5 ISHIKAWA Kasumi
06) 6 LI Xiaoxia
07) 7 FENG Tianwei
08) 8 CHEN Meng
09) 9 HAN Ying
10) 10 WU Yang
11) 11 ITO Mima
12) 12 SEO Hyowon
13) 13 JEON Jihee
14) 33 MU Zi
15) 14 SOLJA Petrissa
16) 16 HIRANO Miu
17) 17 SHAN Xiaona
18) 18 LI Jie
19) 15 YANG Haeun
20) 19 SAMARA Elizabeta
21) 20 LI Jiao
22) 22 CHENG I-Ching
23) 21 HU Melek
24) 23 LIU Jia
25) 28 JIANG Huajun
26) 27 DOO Hoi Kem
27) 25 TIE Yana
28) 24 YU Mengyu
29) 26 ISHIGAKI Yuka
30) 29 LEE Ho Ching
31) 33 YU Fu ^
32) 30 POTA Georgina
33) 36 LI Qian
34) 37 WAKAMIYA Misako
35) 31 HIRANO Sayaka
36) 35 RI Myong Sun
37) 32 SATO Hitomi
38) 37 MORIZONO Misaki
39) 39 CHEN Szu-Yu
40) 40 CHOI Hyojoo


You can view the full World Rankings here.

What are your thoughts on the December World Rankings?

Indeed, if you click on the score links in Sali's post you will notice that this month Wong has lost some bonus points which he had gained earlier. Bonus points are deducted after a couple months.