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The ITTF has published the new world rankings! These were released on September 6, 2014.
Fan Zhendong climbs up to #2!
Fan Zhendong passes Ma Long on the ranking. How? By performing well at the Youth Olympics! Read on for more info.
August has been the month of:
The Youth Olympics, the Belarus Open and the Czech Open!
Fan Zhendong and Liu Gaoyang - 2014 Youth Olympic Champions - Photos by: ITTF
The second version of the Youth Olympics were held in Nanjing, China. The table tennis event featured a men and women singles draw as well as a mixed team competition.
Top seed Fan Zhendong was by far the highest ranked player in the men's draw. There were many tough and talented opponents on his way to the final though. Hongkong representative Hung Ka Tak who already showed up earlier during World Tour events was one of these players. Fan needed a deciding 7th set against him in order to reach the semi finals. In the final he won gold by defeating defender Yuto Muramatsu. Bronze went to Hugo Calderano of Brazil.
All four top seeds reached the semi finals in the women's event. Lily Zhang had to suffer there, losing to Doo Hoi Kem of Hongkong. Later she was still able to take bronze by defeating Miyu Kato in the battle for 3rd place. The champion, China's Liu Gaoyang was the stronger player in the final by a 4-2 victory over Kem.
With both singles titles already in their bags, the mixed team event was an easy prey for team China. Silver medals were there for team Japan.
Sayaka Hirano and Vladimir Samsonov - 2014 Belarus Open winners - Photos by: ITTF
After a short break the World Tour returned to Minsk, Belarus for a challenge series competition.
Of course home player Vladimir Samsonov was there, being the top seeded player. The best ranked opponent in his side of the draw, Omar Assar, dropped out early due to a loss against Evgueni Chtchetinine. Also Kaii Yoshida had to leave early after his match with Lee Sang Su. Samsonov only lost 1 set on his way to the final where he met Wang Zengyi of Poland and with another 4-1 victory he quickly finished the job.
Japan controlled the women's draw as they posessed all 4 top seed spots. 6 out of 8 players in the quarter finals were Japanese. Notably however was that Ai Fukuhara didn't reach this stage after losing a 3-4 match to Russia's Maria Dolgikh. This could not spoil the fun though as Sayaka Hirano pulled the gold medal towards here through 2 7-set matches.
Marcos Freitas and Elizabeta Samara - Czech Open Singles Champions - Photo by: ITTF
The Czech Open was held less than a week later in Olomouc and the new plastic balls were used.
Samsonov returned to see if he could take two titles within the same month, but things were totally different this time as he suffered a surprising first round defeat against Kristian Karlsson. One round later it was however Alexey Smirnov who took over control. After reaching the semi finals he was stopped by Patrick Baum. Baum, who played his first ever world tour final sadly couldn't convert it into gold; Marcos Freitas was there to prevent it from happening by winning 4-3.
Ai Fukuhara also returned to the field, this time together with Kasumi Ishikawa. Their biggest opponent Han Ying of Germany was already eliminated in the round of 32 but there was still one favourite to take care of: Elizabeta Samara managed to reach the finals by defeating Ishikawa 4-1. The battle for gold was again a tight match: It was Samara who finished off wonderfully with 4-3 victory in the end.
This month's most notable changes
2 (3) FAN Zhendong
4 (5) ZHANG Jike
14 (17) BAUM Patrick
29 (44) MURAMATSU Yuto
54 (69) FILUS Ruwen
65 (88) GAUZY Simon
73 (111) ARUNA Quadri
77 (92) WALTHER Ricardo
91 (109) YOSHIMURA Maharu
94 (138) OSHIMA Yuya
101 (144) MACHI Asuka
13 (22) SAMARA Elizabeta
21 (27) DOO Hoi Kem
25 (32) MORIZONO Misaki
28 (42) LIU Gaoyang
30 (45) WU Jiaduo
38 (48) SOLJA Petrissa
45 (33) HIRANO Miu
53 (70) SATO Hitomi
67 (110) MORI Sakura
89 (115) ZHANG Lily
93 (123) DOLGIKH Maria
115 (146) MESHREF Dina
Men's World Rankings
1 (1) XU Xin
2 (3) FAN Zhendong
3 (2) MA Long
4 (5) ZHANG Jike
5 (4) OVTCHAROV Dimitrij
6 (6) WANG Hao
7 (8) MIZUTANI Jun
8 (7) CHUANG Chih-Yuan
9 (10) BOLL Timo
10 (9) YAN An
11 (11) SAMSONOV Vladimir
12 (13) FREITAS Marcos
13 (12) GAO Ning
xx (xx) ZHOU Yu
14 (17) BAUM Patrick
15 (15) NIWA Koki
16 (14) TANG Peng
17 (16) JOO Saehyuk
18 (19) STEGER Bastian
19 (18) KIM Minseok
20 (23) APOLONIA Tiago
21 (22) GIONIS Panagiotis
22 (21) CHEN Chien-An
23 (20) CHO Eonrae
24 (26) CRISAN Adrian
25 (27) FANG Bo
26 (24) ZHAN Jian ^
27 (25) MATSUDAIRA Kenta
28 (29) MAZE Michael
29 (44) MURAMATSU Yuto
29 (30) GACINA Andrej
31 (31) GARDOS Robert
32 (28) SHIONO Masato
Women's World Rankings
1 (1) LIU Shiwen
2 (2) DING Ning
3 (3) LI Xiaoxia
4 (4) FENG Tianwei
5 (5) WU Yang
6 (7) ZHU Yuling
7 (6) CHEN Meng
8 (9) ISHIKAWA Kasumi
9 (8) HAN Ying ^
10 (10) YU Mengyu
11 (11) SEO Hyowon
12 (12) LIU Jia
13 (22) SAMARA Elizabeta
14 (14) FUKUHARA Ai
15 (13) LI Fen ^
16 (15) LEE Ho Ching
17 (18) HIRANO Sayaka
18 (19) YU Fu ^
19 (16) LI Jiao
20 (17) YANG Haeun
21 (27) DOO Hoi Kem
22 (20) PAVLOVICH Viktoria
xx (xx) HU Limei
23 (26) ISHIGAKI Yuka
24 (21) SHAN Xiaona ^
25 (32) MORIZONO Misaki
xx (xx) LIU Fei
26 (23) JEON Jihee ^
27 (24) RI Myong Sun
28 (42) LIU Gaoyang
29 (25) JIANG Huajun
30 (45) WU Jiaduo
31 (36) POLCANOVA Sofia ^
32 (28) NG Wing Nam
Full rankings can be found here.
A lot going on in September: Argentina, Flanders and Brazil Open as well as the World Para Championships and the European Championships!
Fan Zhendong climbs up to #2!
Fan Zhendong passes Ma Long on the ranking. How? By performing well at the Youth Olympics! Read on for more info.
August has been the month of:
The Youth Olympics, the Belarus Open and the Czech Open!
Fan Zhendong and Liu Gaoyang - 2014 Youth Olympic Champions - Photos by: ITTF
The second version of the Youth Olympics were held in Nanjing, China. The table tennis event featured a men and women singles draw as well as a mixed team competition.
Top seed Fan Zhendong was by far the highest ranked player in the men's draw. There were many tough and talented opponents on his way to the final though. Hongkong representative Hung Ka Tak who already showed up earlier during World Tour events was one of these players. Fan needed a deciding 7th set against him in order to reach the semi finals. In the final he won gold by defeating defender Yuto Muramatsu. Bronze went to Hugo Calderano of Brazil.
All four top seeds reached the semi finals in the women's event. Lily Zhang had to suffer there, losing to Doo Hoi Kem of Hongkong. Later she was still able to take bronze by defeating Miyu Kato in the battle for 3rd place. The champion, China's Liu Gaoyang was the stronger player in the final by a 4-2 victory over Kem.
With both singles titles already in their bags, the mixed team event was an easy prey for team China. Silver medals were there for team Japan.
Sayaka Hirano and Vladimir Samsonov - 2014 Belarus Open winners - Photos by: ITTF
After a short break the World Tour returned to Minsk, Belarus for a challenge series competition.
Of course home player Vladimir Samsonov was there, being the top seeded player. The best ranked opponent in his side of the draw, Omar Assar, dropped out early due to a loss against Evgueni Chtchetinine. Also Kaii Yoshida had to leave early after his match with Lee Sang Su. Samsonov only lost 1 set on his way to the final where he met Wang Zengyi of Poland and with another 4-1 victory he quickly finished the job.
Japan controlled the women's draw as they posessed all 4 top seed spots. 6 out of 8 players in the quarter finals were Japanese. Notably however was that Ai Fukuhara didn't reach this stage after losing a 3-4 match to Russia's Maria Dolgikh. This could not spoil the fun though as Sayaka Hirano pulled the gold medal towards here through 2 7-set matches.
Marcos Freitas and Elizabeta Samara - Czech Open Singles Champions - Photo by: ITTF
The Czech Open was held less than a week later in Olomouc and the new plastic balls were used.
Samsonov returned to see if he could take two titles within the same month, but things were totally different this time as he suffered a surprising first round defeat against Kristian Karlsson. One round later it was however Alexey Smirnov who took over control. After reaching the semi finals he was stopped by Patrick Baum. Baum, who played his first ever world tour final sadly couldn't convert it into gold; Marcos Freitas was there to prevent it from happening by winning 4-3.
Ai Fukuhara also returned to the field, this time together with Kasumi Ishikawa. Their biggest opponent Han Ying of Germany was already eliminated in the round of 32 but there was still one favourite to take care of: Elizabeta Samara managed to reach the finals by defeating Ishikawa 4-1. The battle for gold was again a tight match: It was Samara who finished off wonderfully with 4-3 victory in the end.
This month's most notable changes
2 (3) FAN Zhendong
4 (5) ZHANG Jike
14 (17) BAUM Patrick
29 (44) MURAMATSU Yuto
54 (69) FILUS Ruwen
65 (88) GAUZY Simon
73 (111) ARUNA Quadri
77 (92) WALTHER Ricardo
91 (109) YOSHIMURA Maharu
94 (138) OSHIMA Yuya
101 (144) MACHI Asuka
13 (22) SAMARA Elizabeta
21 (27) DOO Hoi Kem
25 (32) MORIZONO Misaki
28 (42) LIU Gaoyang
30 (45) WU Jiaduo
38 (48) SOLJA Petrissa
45 (33) HIRANO Miu
53 (70) SATO Hitomi
67 (110) MORI Sakura
89 (115) ZHANG Lily
93 (123) DOLGIKH Maria
115 (146) MESHREF Dina
Men's World Rankings
1 (1) XU Xin
2 (3) FAN Zhendong
3 (2) MA Long
4 (5) ZHANG Jike
5 (4) OVTCHAROV Dimitrij
6 (6) WANG Hao
7 (8) MIZUTANI Jun
8 (7) CHUANG Chih-Yuan
9 (10) BOLL Timo
10 (9) YAN An
11 (11) SAMSONOV Vladimir
12 (13) FREITAS Marcos
13 (12) GAO Ning
xx (xx) ZHOU Yu
14 (17) BAUM Patrick
15 (15) NIWA Koki
16 (14) TANG Peng
17 (16) JOO Saehyuk
18 (19) STEGER Bastian
19 (18) KIM Minseok
20 (23) APOLONIA Tiago
21 (22) GIONIS Panagiotis
22 (21) CHEN Chien-An
23 (20) CHO Eonrae
24 (26) CRISAN Adrian
25 (27) FANG Bo
26 (24) ZHAN Jian ^
27 (25) MATSUDAIRA Kenta
28 (29) MAZE Michael
29 (44) MURAMATSU Yuto
29 (30) GACINA Andrej
31 (31) GARDOS Robert
32 (28) SHIONO Masato
Women's World Rankings
1 (1) LIU Shiwen
2 (2) DING Ning
3 (3) LI Xiaoxia
4 (4) FENG Tianwei
5 (5) WU Yang
6 (7) ZHU Yuling
7 (6) CHEN Meng
8 (9) ISHIKAWA Kasumi
9 (8) HAN Ying ^
10 (10) YU Mengyu
11 (11) SEO Hyowon
12 (12) LIU Jia
13 (22) SAMARA Elizabeta
14 (14) FUKUHARA Ai
15 (13) LI Fen ^
16 (15) LEE Ho Ching
17 (18) HIRANO Sayaka
18 (19) YU Fu ^
19 (16) LI Jiao
20 (17) YANG Haeun
21 (27) DOO Hoi Kem
22 (20) PAVLOVICH Viktoria
xx (xx) HU Limei
23 (26) ISHIGAKI Yuka
24 (21) SHAN Xiaona ^
25 (32) MORIZONO Misaki
xx (xx) LIU Fei
26 (23) JEON Jihee ^
27 (24) RI Myong Sun
28 (42) LIU Gaoyang
29 (25) JIANG Huajun
30 (45) WU Jiaduo
31 (36) POLCANOVA Sofia ^
32 (28) NG Wing Nam
Full rankings can be found here.
A lot going on in September: Argentina, Flanders and Brazil Open as well as the World Para Championships and the European Championships!
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