This month on TT News: Chinese Stars Suffer Rankings Blow,
Tomokazu Harimoto sets a new record at Japanese National Championships,
The first ITTF World Tour event of 2018 takes place and more:
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The new table tennis world rankings list has been unveiled and as expected there were plenty
of big surprises for January 2018.
One of the biggest talking points of the list sees Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov rise to
World No.1 but there have also been major headlines about the new rankings positions
for Chinese stars Ma Long and Zhang Jike.
Ma Long held first position in the list for 34 consecutive months and has been the leading
name in men's table tennis for many a year now.
Victorious at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Ma Long went on to enjoy a fantastic first
half of 2017 with his capture of the Men's Singles title at the 2017 World Championships.
However, as of January 2018 Ma Long has slipped down the order, with the 29-year-old now occupying
7th position alongside Hong Kong's Wong Chun Ting who also shares the same number
of rankings points.
Zhang Jike has also suffered a major drop down the men's rankings table with the former
Grand Slam winner moving from 9th to 54th in January.
The London 2012 champion is now the sixth highest world ranked Chinese player in the
men's game and is some 33 places below 2015 World Championship runner up Fang Bo.
Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen are the big headline makers in the women's world rankings with
the two stars falling down to 21st and 24th positions respectively while Chen Meng is
named as the new World No.1.
The 2018 Japanese National Championships were held in Tokyo where fans witnessed another
milestone achievement for one of Japan's most talented young stars.
Tomokazu Harimoto is used to setting records and now he has set another by becoming the
youngest ever player to claim the Men's Singles trophy at the Championships.
Aged 14 years and 207 days, Harimoto accounted for Jun Mizutani in the final across six games.
Mima Ito proved victorious in the Women's Singles category with strong display against
Miu Hirano.
Ito also prevailed in both the Women's Doubles and Mixed Doubles competitions, partnering
Hina Hayata and Masataka Morizono in the respective events.
The Men's Doubles crown was claimed by the pairing of Jun Mizutani and Yuya Oshima while
the Junior Boys' Singles and Junior Girls' Singles gold medals were won by Tomokazu Harimoto
and Miyu Nagasaki.
Budapest was the destination for the first ITTF World Tour event of 2018 as players from
across the globe gathered for the 2018 Hungarian Open.
Fan Zhendong was crowned Men's Singles champion in the Hungarian capital, defeating young
star Wang Chuqin in the final.
Wang Chuqin was appearing in his first ever final on the World Tour following outstanding
performances over the likes of Chuang Chih-Yuan and Chen Chien-An, but ultimately it was Fan
Zhendong who took the plaudits.
Success in Budapest marks Fan Zhendong's first Men's Singles title on the World Tour
since 2016!
Over in the Women's Singles event it was Wang Manyu who came away with the gold medal.
Sun Yingsha provided the opposition in the final in what turned out to be another tight
contest between the two Chinese stars, however, in the end it was Wang Manyu who came out
on top to win her second Women's Singles trophy on the World Tour.
China enjoyed further success in the two doubles competitions with the partnership of Fan Zhendong
and Yu Ziyang claiming the Men's Doubles award while the Women's Doubles prize went
to Chen Xingtong and Sun Yingsha.
The 2018 World Team Cup is nearly upon us with the event set to commence in late February
and China has finally unveiled its full team information for the upcoming event.
Chen Xingtong and Wang Manyu both booked their places in the Chinese women's team after
securing the top two positions at an internal trials competition held in Beijing, finishing
ahead of World Tour Grand Finals champion and World No.1 Chen Meng.
Joining Chen Xingtong and Wang Manyu in the Chinese women's line-up is Ding Ning, Liu
Shiwen and Zhu Yuling.
Ma Long will lead the Chinese men's team at the 2018 World Team Cup with Fan Zhendong,
Xu Xin, Lin Gaoyuan and Yu Ziyang also making the squad.
Finally we turn our attention to London where the 2018 World Championship of Ping Pong took
place.
The two-day event which saw some of the world's best sandpaper bat players do battle provided
plenty of drama for spectators to enjoy and the crowd at Alexandra Palace witnessed a
thrilling final as two Chinese competitors met face to face for the title.
Wang Shibo and Huang Jungang played out a fantastic contest for the gold medal which
went right down to the final game but only one of the finalists could be crowned World
Champion and that turned out to be Wang Shibo who defeated his fellow countryman by the
narrowest of margin to lift the trophy on his debut at
the tournament.
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