Winner of the Boys’ Singles title at the Volkswagen World Junior Championship in Bahrain in November 2011, Japan’s Koki Niwa is very much the player who steals the show on the World Rankings issued by the International Table Tennis Federation on Tuesday 3rd January 2012.

Listed at a very impressive no.23 on the Men’s World Rankings, the 17 year old is appears at no.1 on both the Under 21 and Under 18 rankings.

On the Under 18 Boys’ World Rankings, he retains the top billing, on the Under 21 Men’s World Rankings, he climbs one rung up the ladder to replace China’s Xu Xin in top spot.

Defining Years
Xu Xin, born in 1990, is now too old for the Under 21 listings; the January rankings seeing the new age groups come into effect.

In order for players to appear in the Under 21 Rankings, the year of birth must be 1991 or later; whilst for the Under 18 and Under 15 Rankings the determining years are 1994 and 1997 respectively.

Koreans Highly Rated
Progress for Koki Niwa on the Under 21 Men’s Rankings and also for the Korean duo of Kim Min Seo and Seo Hyun Deok; both climb one place. 

The former is now at no.2, the latter at no.3.

Chinese Trio
Koreans in pursuit of Koki Niwa on the Under 21 Men’s Rankings, on the Under Boys’ Rankings it is a quartet of Chinese teenagers hot on his heels. 

Lin Gaoyuan remains at no.2, Wu Jiaji climbs from no.5 to no.3 with Yin Hang now at no.4; previously he was at no.9.

Notable Presence
A notable Chinese presence and it is the same on the Under 15 Boys’ Rankings. 

Winner of the Junior Boys’ Singles events on the ITTF Junior Circuit in both Hong Kong and Taicang in 2011, Zhou Qihao, who celebrates his fifteenth birthday on Thursday 12th January, climbs from no.3 to no.1.

Making Strides
He is followed by colleagues Yu Ziyang, Wei Shihao, Li Yuansheng and Song Xu; all four making notable strides.

Yu Ziyang moves from no.7 to no.2, Wei Shihao from no.13 to no.3, Li Yuansheng from no.14 to no.4 and Song Xu from no.19 to no.5.

Japan’s Yuto Muramatsu and China’s Zheng Peifeng, listed in the top two places respectively in December 2011 on the Under 15 Boys’ Rankings leave the Under 15 category.

Asia Dominant
Notably the boys’ age group rankings are dominated by Asian players.

On the Under 21 Men’s World Rankings, Turkey’s Li Ahmet appears at no.16 but, of course, he hails from China. Otherwise, outside the top 20 listed players in each of the three age groups, the only non-Asian male born players are from France; in fact in the Under 18 Boys’ Rankings the only non-Asian names in the top 30 are from France!

France Carries European Flag
In the Under 21 Men’s Rankings, Quentin Robinot appears at no.17 with Simon Gauzy at no.20; whilst on the Under 18 Boys’ list France has five players in the top 30.

Simon Gauzy is at no.5, Tristan Flore at no.12, Benjamin Brossier at no.18, Antoine Hachard at no.23 and Enzo Angles at no.30.

Similarly, in the Under 15 Boys’ Rankings, France carries the flag. Alexandre Cassin is at no.15 with Can Akkuzu sat no.18.

Names to Note
Impressive Frenchmen and from outside the continents of Asia and Europe there are names to note on the male listings. 

Egypt’s Omar Assar appears at no.23 on the Under 21 Men’s Rankings; Canada’s Chen Hongtao is at no.32 on the Under 18 Boys’ Ranking with Brazil’s Hugo Calderano at no.42, whilst also supporting the Latin American cause is Argentina’s Fermin Tenti. 

He is at no.22 on the Under 15 Boys’ Rankings.

Very Similar
Similarly, for the girls, Asia is very much to the fore.

China’s Liu Shiwen replaces colleague Ding Ning at the top of the Under 21 Women’s World Rankings, the reigning World champion now being over age; Japan’s Kasumi Ishikawa climbs one place to no.2, followed by Liu Shiwen’s colleague Wu Yang and Korea’s Yang Ha Eun, both likewise advance one place.

First Place for Yang Ya Eun
Fourth place for Yang Ha Eun on the Under 21 Women’s World Rankings but top place on the Under 18 list; she replaces the now too old Kasumi Ishikawa in top place with China’s Zhu Yuling and Chen Meng each climbing one place to be the next in line.

Challenge
The top places for Asia; but there is a challenge from beyond that continent’s shores. 

Germany’s Petrissa Solja appears at no.6, Romania’s Bernadette Szocs at no.8 and Russia’s Yana Noskova at no.9 carry the European flag; whilst the United States duo of Ariel Hsing and Lily Zhang set the standard for North America.

Ariel Hsing is at no.12, Lily Zhang at no.15 and there is one more name to note; Egypt’s Dina Meshref climbs from no.41 to no.29.

Very Young Players
However, in the Under 15 Girls’ World Rankings, Asia is in control and very young Asia.

Japan’s 13 year old Yui Hamamoto, formerly at no.6, is at no.1 followed by 11 year old compatriot Mima Ito; China’s He Zhuojia and Fan Siqi, both 13 years old occupy the next two respective places with 14 year old Rira Ishikawa, the younger sister of Kasumi, at no.5.

Over Age
The top five from the December 2011 Under 15 Girls’ World Rankings – Miyu Maeda, Lily Zhang, Liu Gaoyang, Zhu Chaohui, Doo Hoi Kem – all leave being too old.

Source: http://www.ittf.com/_front_page/ittf_full_story1.asp?ID=26549&Category=General&Competition_ID=&

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