Fan Zhendong in action during the men's singles round of 16 match against Oh Jun-sung at the 2023 World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender in Zagreb, Croatia on June 30, 2023. (Photo by Igor Kralj/PIXSELL via Xinhua)
China's Fan Zhendong went back to No. 1 in the latest International Table Tennis Federation world rankings.
BEIJING, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese paddler Fan Zhendong made a return to the men's singles top position in the latest International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) world rankings released on Tuesday.
With his title in last week's World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Contender Ljubljana, Fan overtook his compatriot Wang Chuqin to the No. 1 position, while Wang, who had taken up the top spot for the first time in his career one week ago, slipped to second. Chinese veteran Ma Long sits third in the rankings.
The players ranked fourth to tenth are Japan's Tomokazu Harimoto, Brazilian ace Hugo Calderano, Lin Gaoyuan and Liang Jingkun of China, Jang Woo-jin of South Korea, Slovenia's Darko Jorgic and Swede Truls Moregard.
Chinese paddlers dominated the women's category, as Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng, Wang Yidi, Wang Manyu, Chen Xingtong and Qian Tianyi claimed the leading six positions.
They were followed by Japanese duo Mima Ito and Hina Hayata, South Korean teenager Shin Yu-bin and German veteran Han Ying in the women's top 10. ■
