January 2020 ITTF Rankings: Fan Starts 2020 On Top

(By Steve Hopkins)

Fan Zhendong tops the first ITTF World Ranking list of 2020.  Fan replaced Xu Xin – the two traded the top position three times in 2019.  Ma Long is in third (only 500 points separate him from the second spot), and Lin Gaoyuan is in fourth.

The rest of the Top 10 is Harimoto, Lin Yun-Ju, Calderano, Falck, Liang Jingkun, and Timo Boll.  Dimitrij Ovtcharov is ranked 11^th, but has moved up consistently over the last three months.

At No. 27, Kanak Jha is the only North American player in the Top 100 – Jha and Canada’s Jeremy Hazin (No. 141) are the only players in the Top 150.  Twelve players from Latin America are in the Top 150, with Calderano at No. 7 and Tsuboi at No. 40 and including Mexico’s Marcos Madrid at No. 70 and Puerto Rican Players Brian Afanador (No. 81) and Daniel Gonzales (NO. 137).

In the Women’s Rankings, China holds six of the top seven positions.  Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha are No. 1 and 2.  Japan’s Ito Mima is No. 3.  The Top European player is Sofia Polcanova from Austria at No. 14.  Adrian Diaz is the top Latin player are No. 21.  USA players Lily Zhang (No. 26) and Jennifer Wu (No. 33) start 2020 in strong positions.  Canada’s Mo Zhang is No. 27.

The 2020 ITTF Event Calendar includes one major January event, the German Open.  That event does not end until February 2, so it is unlikely that the rankings will change much in February.  Overall, the Event Calendar includes 116 total events, so we can expect a great year of table tennis at the highest levels – including the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.