China’s Zhang Yining returns to the no.1 spot on the Women’s World
Rankings issued by the International Table Tennis Federation on
Wednesday 3rd December 2008.
Zhang Yining is the complete player.
If
you set 100 tests to determine the factors needed to become a high
level player, she would gain top marks in each examination.
She replaces compatriot Li Xiaoxia, to whom she loaned the prestigious berth for one month.
World Champion at No.3
Guo
Yue, the reigning World Champion, occupies the no.3 place in a list
where the top ten players are members of the Chinese national team or
all learnt their trade in China before departing for foreign shores.
Wang
Nan and Guo Yan occupy the next two places, the former at no.4, the
latter at no.5; a reversal of the November list whilst at no.6 appears
the name, Feng Tianwei.
ITTF Pro Tour Gold
A little over 18 months ago the player born in China but who now represents Singapore was unknown in international circles.
Good
results followed by disappointing defeats have to some extent been her
lot in 2008 but at the recently completed Polish Open, she put that
scenario to rest.
She won the Women’s Singles crown and as a direct result now enjoys the highest world ranking of her career.
Highest Listed Singaporean
Furthermore,
she becomes the highest world ranked Singaporean; she changes places
with Li Jia Wei who occupied that position for almost a decade.
Li Jia Wei now appears at no.7 with a third member of the Singapore national team, Wang Yue Gu at no.8.
Hong Kong
Three
players from Singapore all in a row and the top 10 is completed by two
players from Hong Kong; Tie Yana is at no.9 with Jiang Tianyi at no.10.
Erke German Open
Changes
of note but the most notable progress is that of Germany’s Wu Jiaduo,
Croatia’s Tamara Boros and Romania’s Daniela Dodean.
At the Erke
German both Wu Jiaduo and Tamara Boros excelled. Wu Jiaduo was in
tremendous form being the backbone of Germany’s silver medal success in
the Women’s Team event and later in proceedings the runner up in the
Women’s Singles.
Daniela Dodean
Similarly,
Tamara Boros was in top gear in the Women’s Singles beating Wang Yue Gu
before losing to Italy’s Nikoleta Stefanova whilst one week later it
was the turn of Daniela Dodean to shine.
She ousted third seed,
Japan’s Ai Fukuhara in the third round of the Women’s Singles event in
Poland before eventually losing in the semi-finals to Feng Tianwei.
Age Categories
Changes amongst the elite in the Women’s Rankings but not amongst the top three in the age restricted lists.
The
Chinese trio of Li Xiaoxia, Guo Yue and Ai Fukuhara occupy the top
three places in the Under 21 Women’s list whilst on the Under 18 Girls’
Rankings it is also three Chinese players in the elite places.
Liu
Shiwen leads the way followed by Ding Ning and Li Xiaodan but in the
Under 15 Girls’ Rankings there is no Chinese name to be seen amongst
the top three.
Japan’s delightful Kasumi Ishikawa is at no.1 with North Korea’s Kim Hye Song at no.2 and Korea’s Yang Ha Eun at no.3.
Chinese Dominance
However,
on the senior list China is very much to the fore; of the top 23 listed
female players, only two were not born in China. The interlopers are
Korea’s Kim Kyung Ah at no.11 and Japan’s Ai Fukuhara at no.17.
As for Wen Jia, the newly crowned Chinese National Champion, she only just makes the top 100.
Wen Jia is at no.86 but it is progress; previously she was at no.90!
Source: www.ittf.com
