Wang Chen, 34 years old, announced her retirement from international
play at the Beijing Olympic Games; having proved herself a most
valuable member of the United States outfit in the Women’s Team event,
whilst in the Women’s Singles she recorded notable wins over Hungary’s
Krisztina Toth and Korea’s Kim Kyung Ah, before losing at the
quarter-final stage to Singapore’s Li Jia Wei.
The reward for
her efforts is that she moves from No.23 to No.15 on the Women’s World
Rankings issued by the International Table Tennis Federation on
Wednesday 3rd September 2008.
Highest of the Century
It
is her highest world ranking since moving to the United States and her
highest position for nine years; in July 1999, when a member of the
Chinese national team, she was ranked No.13.
The adopted
American, who has recently opened a table tennis club in New York,
first entered the World Rankings in May 1993 being listed at No.14; her
highest ever position came in 1997-1998 when, from September to June,
she stood at No.4.
Progress following Beijing Success
Successes
in the Beijing Olympic Games also sees progress for Korea’s Dang Ye
Seo, Lie Jie of the Netherlands, Austria’s Li Qiangbing, Romania’s
Elizabeta Samara and most noticeably the Dominican Republic’s Wu Xue.
Most Significant
A
climb of nineteen places from No.50 to No.31 sees Wu Xue make the most
significant progress of all in the higher echelons of the female
listings.
In Beijing there was no great success in the team
event but in the singles, the left handed penholder, who hails from the
Chinese capital city, excelled.
She defeated both Singapore’s Wang Yue Gu and Gao Jun of the United States before losing to second seed, China’s Guo Yue.
Movement in the Right Direction
Meanwhile,
Dang Ye Seo, who was instrumental in Korea’s bronze medal success in
the Women’s Team event, advances to No.19 from No.26 whilst Li Jie, who
defeated Austria’s Liu Jia before losing to Singapore’s Feng Tianwei,
is now at No. 38, having previously been at No.45.
Similarly,
there is progress for Li Qiangbing, who recorded a notable win over
Germany’s Wu Jiaduo in the Women’s Singles competition; she moves ten
places to No.48 whilst, Elizabeta Samara, a model of consistency in the
Women’s Team event, is now at Noi. 50. In the August rankings she stood
at No.61.
New Heights
It
is for Dang Ye Seo her highest ever world ranking and her first
appearance in the top 20, whilst for both Wu Xue and Li Jie it is also
there highest positions and not to be left out, for Li Qiangbing and
Elizabeta Samara they too occupy their most exalted places making their
first appearance in the top 50.
Only One Change
Changes outside the very elite but the movements within the top twelve are few and far between; in fact, there is only one.
The
Chinese duo of Wang Nan and Guo Yan change places; the former is now at
No.4, the latter at No.5 with their compatriots Zhang Yining, Guo Yue
and Li Xiaoxia occupying the top three places respectively.
Singapore’s
Li Jia Wei is a No.6 followed by team mate Wang Yue Gu with Hong Kong
China’s Jiang Huajun at No.8, one ahead of Li Jia Wei’s compatriot Feng
Tianwei.
Learnt Trade in China
Hong
Kong China’s Tie Yana is No.10 with Korea’s Kim Kyung Ah at No.11 and
Japan’s Ai Fukuhara at No.12; the salutary point of note being that the
top ten rated players all learnt their skills in China.
Same as Before
No changes at the top of the female list and no changes at the top of the Under 21 Women’s Rankings or Under 18 Girls’ Rankings.
Guo
Yue, Li Xiaoxia and Ai Fukuhara are the top three in the Under 21
Women’s Rankings with Liu Shiwen, Ding Ning and Li Xiaodan, all from
China, heading the Under 18 Girls’ list.
Source: www.ittf.com
