Top five players on the International Table Tennis Federation Men's Singles Ranking
Currently, six of the top ten players are from China, as they are dominating the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World ranking.
The World Table Tennis Championship was dominated by the Chinese and it was clear proof of their playing skills, as table tennis is the national sport of the country.
The World Championship was won by Zhang Jike who reached the finals for the first time in his playing career. He defeated Wang Hao, his compatriot who was the strongest contender for the title. However, Zhang showed an awesome performance and won over the
top player of the Championships. In the semi-finals it was Zhang who ended the progress of the Number one European player Timo Boll from Germany.
Wang Hao, despite being defeated did not slip down on the world ITTF ranking, as he is still on the top seed. Wang won the Volkswagen Cup earlier this year held at Guangzhou, China. He managed to overpower Timo Boll. The European spectators were expecting
another Wang Hao and Timo Boll match, but it did not happen, as Zhang was a surprise player in the Championship.
Wang is on the top seed of the ITTF Men's ranking. He was on the top seed of the Men's ranking earlier in 2007 and remained on the position for a consecutive 27 months. Wang is still waiting to win Olympic gold to achieve a Grand Slam title.
Currently at the Number two seed is Boll from Germany on the ITTF Men's ranking. He was at the Number one seed earlier this year but slipped to the Number two seed after facing defeat in the Volkswagen Cup.
Zhang is currently at the Number three seed after his performance during the World Championships. He was the fourth seed in January, but slipped to Number six in the February ranking. Zhang managed to climb to the Number three seed once again by winning
the German Open against Boll. According to the ITTF ranking rule, if a player defeats a player on higher ranking them him then he will get more points than winning against a lower ranking players.
Ma Lin from China is currently holding the Number four seed. He first appeared on the ITTF ranking at the second seed in 2001. In 2002, he earned the top seed for the month of October 2010. In 2004 he remained on the top seed, but since 2007 he never managed
to earn the top rank again. In the World Championship he was defeated by his compatriot Ma Long in the quarter-finals.
At the fifth seed is Ma Long. He was at the Number one seed until the end of 2010, but he slipped down to the fifth position in the world ranking. In the World Championship he defeated Ma Lin and progressed to the semi-finals. His progress was stopped by
his compatriot Wang Hao in the semi-finals.
The presence of four players on the top five ranks of the ITTF Men's ranking is proof of China’s dominancy in the sport. Zhang is a young player on the Chinese squad and he won the Championship in his first appearance. The coach of China’s team, Liu Guoliang
is satisfied with the performance of the players. On the Junior circuit China does need to train more players, as there are very few names on the top seeds of the Junior ranking.
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