Chinese Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha are ranked first in the men’s and women’s singles competitions, respectively, according to the International Table Tennis Federation’s (ITTF) most recent global rankings, which were announced on Tuesday. Topping the men’s singles rankings were China’s Wang Chuqin and Lin Shidong, followed by Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto, France’s Felix Lebrun, China’s Liang Jingkun, Brazil’s Hugo Calderano, Sweden’s Truls Moregard, China’s Lin Gaoyuan, Germany’s Qiu Dang, and Germany’s Patrick Franziska.

Chinese athletes Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu, Wang Yidi, and Chen Xingtong finished in the top four on the women’s side. According to Xinhua, Cheng I-Ching from Chinese Taipei, Shin Yubin from South Korea, and Mima Ito from Japan were in fifth and sixth place, respectively, followed by Hina Hayata and Miwa Harimoto of Japan.

The Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA) confirmed in a statement that Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, and Chen Meng had formally withdrew from the rankings after the most recent global rankings were released. The statement also said that all the formalities required for their withdrawal had been completed.

According to the statement, “the association will continue to follow the development of three athletes and provide them with full support, whether they choose to focus on domestic competitions or return to the international stage.” “The CTTA has been actively advocating for reasonable changes to competition rules by working with the ITTF and World Table Tennis (WTT).”

“Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, and Chen Meng have made exceptional contributions to the sport globally and brought immense honor to the country.” “I am dedicated to helping our athletes defend their rights and interests as the president of the CTTA,” Liu Guoliang said.

“I suggest that the WTT think about offering ‘participation exemptions’ to seasoned and accomplished athletes and creating a ‘prize pool’ to incentivize young athletes who participate actively,” Liu said.