On April 30, the World Table Tennis Federation officially confirmed that it will change the rules of the world ranking, and such a change in rules will also affect the main players of the national table tennis team, including Fan Zhendong, Chen Meng and others. The previous world ranking system has been criticized by the outside world, and this time the table tennis federation has also learned the lessons of the past and corrected the ranking system. In the process of revising the rules, Liu Guoliang, Li Xiaoxia and other national table tennis figures have also played a key role.
In the latest edition of the world rankings, Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng ranked first in the men's and women's singles respectively. National table tennis occupies the world first place in men's singles, women's singles and women's doubles, while in the mixed doubles and men's doubles events it fails to rank first. Fan Zhendong, Chen Meng, Wang Chuqin, Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu and other players have long been at the forefront of the world rankings, which also proves that no matter what kind of ranking system, national table tennis can play its own advantages.
However, this ranking system has been questioned a lot, especially about the initial points regulations. When the New Table Tennis Federation launched a new ranking system, in order to better adapt the world rankings to the new WTT event structure, the concept of original points was introduced, with an initial value of 80% of the total points of players in December 2020. Although the initial points have subsequently been lowered as a percentage of the world ranking points, they still exist, which will affect the ranking of athletes who have played well in the last 2 years.
On 30 April, the World Table Tennis Federation officially confirmed that it would make changes to the ranking rules, and one of the important changes was the complete removal of the initial points. As a result, athletes who perform well in 2021 and 2022 will receive higher world rankings. For example, Wang Manyu, who has played very well in the past two years, especially after the Tokyo Olympic Games, can occupy a good advantage under this ranking system.
This change in rules is also related to the efforts of Liu Guoliang, Li Xiaoxia and other national table tennis figures. Liu Guoliang is currently the chairman of the WTT Council, and Li Xiaoxia has also entered the ITTF World Ranking Working Group on the recommendation of Liu Guoliang. Shortly after Li Xiaoxia entered the group, the Table Tennis Federation passed the plan to modify the ranking rules, which shows that Li Xiaoxia does play an important role, and what she said about fighting for more rights for athletes is also implemented.
On May 3, the new world ranking rules will be launched, when everyone's ranking and points will also change, and the points of Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng, the two world number ones, will also be affected. However, in their current situation, there is a high probability that they will still rank first in the new rules, and Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu, who have played well in the past 2 years, will also get more support under the new rules.