says
TTD Team vs Pongfinity drops tomorrow!
says
TTD Team vs Pongfinity drops tomorrow!
Well-Known Member
Administrator
The May World Rankings have been released on the 1st of May!
--- Xu Xin retrieves World no.1 spot ---
--- Xu Xin retrieves World no.1 spot ---
Xu Xin - Back at the top of the world - Photo by: An Sung Ho
Not only did Xu Xin pass Ma Long once again, another top 5 shift occurred! Wang Hao takes his chance to overtake Zhang Jike who seems to be out of form for a while now.
April has been the month of the Korea Open and the Asian Cup! Besides the changes in the top 4 these big events have caused several other shifts among the Asian players.
Left: Yan An, still climbing the rankings. Right: Seo Hyo Won, Korean Open 2013 winner - Photos by: ITTF
At the Korea Open in Incheon City mainly Chinese, Japanese and of course Korean players participated. Home player Kang Dong Soo surprised once again by first defeating Japan's Yuto Muramatsu in an all-defensive match, and Chan Kazuhiro afterwards. He was eventually stopped by defender-crusher Ryu Seung Min, but it gave Kang Dong Soo another boost of 20 spots to reach the top 100 for the first time.
Yan An once again impressed as he reached the semi-finals. Before that, he had beaten Zhang Jike in an epic 4-3 showdown. Consequently, Yan An jumps up to the 14th spot.
Most impressive in the Women's event was surely the championship of defending player Seo Hyo Won; She did this by two big upsets against Feng Tianwei and Kasumi Ishikawa respectively. This earned her the 21st place in the world rankings.
Left: Noshad Alamiyan. Right: Wu Yang - Photos by: ITTF
The Asian Cup was held in Hong Kong last month and had less participants, but it certainly was just as impressive. Top seeds Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen both grabbed the title, however several young players showed that they were capable of reaching the later rounds through upsets.
Iran's Noshad Alamiyan managed to pass through the group phase by beating both Tang Peng and Seo Hyun Deok. After that he kept going by winning against Chien-An Chen as well, but then he was stopped by Yan An. Noshad Alamiyan remains just outside the top 50 at 51.
In the Women's event it was Wu Yang who pulled out the biggest upset. In the semi-final she beat Kasumi Ishikawa. However Liu Shiwen was merciless in the final; Wu Yang still remains behind Kasumi Ishikawa in May's World rankings at the 9th place.
01 (02) Xu Xin
02 (01) Ma Long
03 (04) Wang Hao
04 (03) Zhang Jike
14 (22) Yan An
51 (63) Noshad Alamiyan
88 (104) Alexey Liventsov
98 (118) Kang Dong Soo
142 (181) Masataka Morizono
181 (unr) Kim Tae Hoon
06 (08) Zhu Yuling
21 (32) Seo Hyowon
30 (49) Cheng I-Ching
37 (58) Lee Ho Ching
50 (70) Fuji Hiroko
85 (132) Li Jiayi
144 (unr) Nie Wei
154 (unr) Kim Junghyun
166 (unr) Park Seonghye
197 (unr) Sakura Mori
Men's World Rankings
01 (02) Xu Xin
02 (01) Ma Long
03 (04) Wang Hao
04 (03) Zhang Jike
05 (<<) Timo Boll
06 (<<) Chih-Yuan Chuang
07 (<<) Dmitrij Ovtcharov
08 (<<) Ma Lin
09 (<<) Wang Liqin
10 (<<) Jun Mizutani
11 (<<) Vladimir Samsonov
12 (<<) Hao Shuai
13 (<<) Joo Se Hyuk
14 (22) Yan An
15 (<<) Jiang Tianyi
16 (14) Gao Ning
17 (16) Chen Qi
18 (<<) Michael Maze
19 (17) Oh Sang Eun
20 (<<) Ryu Seung Mi
21 (19) Adrian Crisann
22 (21) Koki Niwa
23 (<<) Marcos Freitas
24 (<<) Lee Jung Woo
25 (26) Bastian Steger
26 (27) Zhan Jian ^
27 (30) Adrien Mattenet
28 (27) Chien-An Chen
29 (28) Patrick Baum
30 (29) Fang Bo
31 (36) Tang Peng
32 (33) Taku Takakiwa
Women's World Rankings
01 (<<) Ding Ning
02 (<<) Liu Shiwen
03 (<<) Li Xiaoxia
04 (<<) Feng Tianwei
05 (<<) Guo Yan
06 (08) Zhu Yuling
07 (06) Shen Yanfei
08 (09) Kasumi Ishikawa
09 (11) Wu Yang
10 (06) Kim Kyung Ah
11 (10) Chen Meng
12 (13) Feng Yalan
12 (<<) Ai Fukuhara
14 (15) Jiang Huajun
15 (14) Viktoria Pavlovich
16 (15) Guo Yue
Full ranking list here
Of course we can't wait for the LIEBHERR World Table Tennis Championships in Paris this month! Apparently the seedings for this event will be based on May's world rankings, so Xu Xin will be the no.1 seed! Any ideas on how the WTTC will influence these rankings?
Thanks to TableTennisDaily member Steven for this impressive review of the latest world rankings!