The first prize at the Morocco Open in Rabat on Friday 10th July
2009 may not have rocketed Vladimir Samsonov and Ai Fukuhara, the
respective winners of the Men’s and Women’s Singles titles, to the top
of the Standings but it has had one very positive effect.
Both
have now competed in three continents and therefore they have met the
basic qualification requirement for the prestigious end of year
Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand Finals. A place is not guaranteed but there
is no need for last minute panic situations in search of qualification
criteria.
Places
The win in
Morocco means that Vladimir Samsonov is now in 8th place on the Men’s
Singles Standings whilst Ai Fukuhara is in 21st position on the
counterpart female standings.
However, both are the highest rated players to have completed the necessary qualification needs.
Ma Long Leads
Ma
Long heads the Men’s Singles Standings followed by Timo Boll and Ma Lin
whilst in the counterpart female list the top three players are: Liu
Shiwen, Guo Yue and Ding Ning.
Doubles
Meanwhile,
in the Men’s Doubles Standings, Seiya Kishikawa and Jun Mizutani occupy
top place with Guo Yue and Zhang Yining occupying the no.1 spot in the
Women’s Doubles listings.
However, neither as yet has completed
the necessary qualification regulation of playing in four ITTF Pro Tour
tournaments as a pairing.
The male partnership to have fulfilled
the criteria is that of Patrick Baum and Lars Hielscher in 9th spot
whilst for the women, it is Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen. They are in
second place.
Under 21 Standings
German
names in evidence in the Men’s Doubles and also in the Under 21 Men’s
Singles where Ruwen Filus and Steffen Mengel occupy the top two places.
Both have met the necessary qualification criteria of having played in four ITTF Pro Tour tournaments on two continents.
Similarly,
in the Under 21 Women’s Singles listings, Elizabeta Samara, in second
place has met the criteria. Yu Meng Yu occupies top spot.
Source: www.ittf.com
