On October 8, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) unveiled its latest world rankings, highlighting Chinese athlete Sun Yingsha as the top contender in the women’s singles category with a remarkable score of 10,800 points. This accomplishment marks her as the first player to break the 10,000-point threshold since the ranking system was revamped.
The ITTF introduced a new ranking method in 2022, which calculates an athlete’s score based on their best eight performances over the past year.
Sun recently showcased her skills at the 2024 World Table Tennis (WTT) China Grand Slam tournament, where she defeated her teammate Wang Manyu to secure the women’s singles title. This victory added an impressive 2,000 points to her total, propelling her to this historic ranking. Wang Manyu, who finished as the runner-up, earned 7,450 points, placing her second in the standings.
The Chinese national team continues to dominate, holding four of the top spots, with Chen Meng and Wang Yidi ranked third and fourth, respectively. Other notable players filling the ranks from five to ten include Japan’s Hina Hayata, China’s Chen Xingtong, Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto, South Korea’s Shin Yu-bin, Japan’s Mima Ito, and Chinese Taipei’s Cheng I-ching.
In the men’s singles division, Chinese players also occupy the top five positions, with Wang Chuqin and Fan Zhendong leading at first and second with 7,825 and 5,083 points, respectively. Rising star Lin Shidong, at just 19 years old, is making waves by reaching a career-high of 4,965 points, thanks to his recent victories at the Almaty Challenge, Macau Championships, and China Grand Slam, which have placed him third.
Veteran Ma Long, who finished second at the WTT China Grand Slam, has climbed to the fourth position, while Liang Jingkun holds fifth. Rounding out the men’s top ten are Brazil’s Hugo Calderano, France’s Félix Lebrun, China’s Lin Gaoyuan, Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto, and Sweden’s Truls Moregard.
