The world no.1 positions still belong to Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng in December 2020 after a month which saw the Chinese duo claim major honours during the recently concluded #RESTART series.

While Fan won the Dishang 2020 ITTF Men’s World Cup for the third year running, Chen Meng was crowned champion at both the Dishang 2020 ITTF Women’s World Cup and at the Bank of Communications 2020 ITTF Finals, winning the latter for an all-time record fourth consecutive year.

Their trophy hauls have also translated in healthy point scoring on the ITTF World Ranking lists. Both players have widened the gap considerably on second place, which are occupied by Xu Xin and Sun Yingsha in the men’s and women’s rankings respectively.

Sun’s rise into second sees Japan’s Mima Ito fall to third. Meanwhile, China’s Wang Manyu and Ding Ning have move up one spot each to occupy the fourth and fifth positions, thus pushing compatriot Liu Shiwen out of the top five. Liu had been unable to compete in the #RESTART series due to injury.

In the men’s ranking, Ma Long remains third but is now hot on the heels of Xu Xin, having reached the final of the Men’s World Cup before clinching gold at the Bank of Communications 2020 ITTF Finals, a competition he has won on eight occasions in his stellar career.

Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto won bronze at the Men’s World Cup, but he exited at the round of 16 at the Bank of Communications 2020 ITTF Finals. His drop in results compared to the same events in 2019, in which he picked up a silver medal at the Men’s World Cup and reached the quarter-finals of the ITTF Finals, has seen the teenager lose World Ranking points and also fall to fifth in the rankings. China’s Lin Gaoyuan has overtaken Harimoto into fourth.

Click here to see the rankings in full.