International Table Tennis Federation issues list of table tennis players for the 2012 Olympics
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) issued a list of players in their monthly rankings for June on May 16, who will qualify directly and represent their country in the 2012 London Olympics.
The top 28 world ranked players of the month June will get direct entry to the mega event. Two players from each National Olympic Committee will gain direct entry in the Men's and Women's Singles category. The final decision of the players will be made by
the country’s National Olympic Committee.
Surprisingly there is no player on both Men's and Women's lists who have won a gold medal earlier in any Olympics. Most of the players have retired or are serving as coaches in different countries.
On the Women's side Chen Jing, Deng Yaping, Wang Nan and Zhang Yining have retired. On the Men's side the players who have won the gold and have retired are Yoo Nam Kyu, Jan-Ove Waldner, Liu Guoliang and Kong Linghui.
In the current championship there were 14 out of 20 medals won by the Chinese.
The President of ITTF, Adham Sharara said, "We are trying as hard as possible to encourage other countries, especially from Europe, to improve and develop their young players so that four to five years from now, they can start challenging the Chinese. Already
we can see results from the Japanese and Koreans but the Europeans are still far, especially the women."
The top places on the current ranking are dominated by the Chinese players and the ITTF officials think that it is not a good sign that a country keeps on dominating a sport for more than five years.
The top three players of the Men's ranking are Wang Hao from China, Timo Boll from Germany and Zhang Jike from China. Zhang Jike won the title of the Men's singles at the World Championships, as he defeated Wang Hao who won the Volkswagen Cup earlier this
year.
On the Women's side the top five positions are taken by the Chinese players Li Xiaoxia, Guo Yan, Ding Ning, Guo Yue and Liu Shiwen.
Ding Ning despite winning the World Championship title, her name was included amongst the players who have qualified for the Olympics next year.
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