(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)
Wang Chuqin has retaking the World No. 1 Ranking, surpassing Fan Zhendong on the heels of Chuqin’s victory at the Singapore Smash last weekend. Chuqin now has a 2250 point lead (with 8020 ranking points) over Fan Zhendong (with 5788).
Liang Junkun moved up three spots (to No. 3), hopping over Ma Long. Ma Long is now at No. 4, having fallen out of the top three spots for the first time in recent memory. Felix Lebrun has moved up one spot to No. 5 and he is followed by Lin Yun Ju. Lin Gaoyuan, Hugo Calderano, Tomokazu Harimoto, and Dang Qiu round out the Top 10.
This was a good week for Germany, as Ovtcharov rose 4 spots to No. 11, Franzisca rose 9 spots to No. 16, and Timo Boll took another large jump – moving up 17 spots to No. 26.
Other big movers in the Mens’ Rankings included Omar Assar who moved up five slots into the Top 20 (No. 17), Sharath Kamal Achanta who rose 54 spots all the way to No. 34, Kristian Karlsson who jumped 14 spots to No. 36, and Korea’s Cho Daeseong who moved up 14 slots to No. 44. Ovidiu Ionescu, who was a qualifier in Singapore who then won two rounds, jumped 33 spots to No. 49.
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