Teenage sensation Lin Shidong has risen to a career-high seventh in the ITTF world rankings after winning back-to-back titles at the WTT Contender Almaty and WTT Champions Macao.
BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- China's teenage sensation Lin Shidong climbed to a career-high seventh in the latest world rankings released by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) on Tuesday.
The 19-year-old, who had won back-to-back titles at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender Almaty and the WTT Champions Macao, rose by five places due to his recent stellar performances.
Fellow Chinese paddlers Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha continued to lead the men's and women's singles world rankings, respectively.
Wang was followed by compatriot Fan Zhendong, the Olympic gold medalist in the singles event. Among other Chinese players, Liang Jingkun sat fourth, with veteran Ma Long ranking sixth and Lin Gaoyuan eighth.
The other top 10 male paddlers are Hugo Calderano of Brazil, French youngster Felix Lebrun, Japan's Tomokazu Harimoto, and Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei.
Sun, who had triumphed in last weekend's WTT Macao event, led the women's rankings with 9,400 points, followed by three fellow Chinese paddlers, Chen Meng, Wang Manyu and Wang Yidi.
Female players ranking fifth to 10th are Hina Hayata of Japan, China's Chen Xingtong, Japanese prodigy Miwa Harimoto, South Korean Shin Yu-bin, Mima Ito of Japan, and Cheng I-Ching of Chinese Taipei. ■