(by Steve Hopkins)

With two recent tour wins, Lin Shidong jumped all the way to No. 3.  Wang Chuqin has a huge lead, so despite three early exits from big tournaments, he is in no danger of losing the top spot.  In second is Olympic Champion Fan Zhendong, who has been content to rest (and heal) after a grueling Summer of big events.  Ma Long and Liang Jingkun round out the top 5 – with only China represented in those top positions.

Hugo Calderano has dropped three slots (to make room for Lin Shidong, Ma Long, and Liang Jingkun who all gained points at the China Smash).  Felix Lebrun is No. 7.  There is only 1063 points separating No. 7 and No. 2 – a tight race considering “Smash” events (like the China Smash last weekend) award the winner 2000 points, and “Champions” events (like the upcoming Frankfurt event) award 1,000.

Lin Gaoyuan, Tomokazu Harimoto, and Truls Moregard are in positions 7-10 in the rankings.  The remaining men in the Top 20 are Lin Yun-Ju, Patrick Franziska, Dang Qiu, Jang Woojin, Darko Jorgic, Dimitrij Ovtcharov, Omar Assar, Shunsuke Togami, Alexis Lebrun, and Cho Daesseong.  USA’s Kanak Jha is No. 71, and despite some recent solid performances, USA’s Ma Jinbao has dropped to No. 90 (as older events have dropped from the totals).

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