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(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)
Little has happened at the top of the rankings, as the World’s best travel to the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia for the Singapore Smash – one of the largest events of the year. Due to this pause, the top 19 players are all unchanged in the rankings with Chuqin, Calderano, Shidong, Harimoto, and Moregard solidly in the top 5 positions. With 2000 points at stake in Singapore over the next 10 days, expect to see movement in the Rankings soon. In fact, once one skips over Chuqin’s 3700 point lead, the next four positions are vulnerable to change with Calderano only 175 points ahead of Shidong, and only 35 points separating Shidong, Harimoto, and Moregard. Any of those players could be No. 2 in March with a good showing in Singapore.
Outside of the Top 25, a number of players have seen ranking changes in recent weeks. Oh Junsung only moved one spot, but that moved him into the Top 20 (moving up to No. 20 from No. 21). Ovtcharov moved up 2 spots to No. 23 – jumping over USA’s Kanak Jha who is now No. 24. French youngsters Poret and Coton each moved up with Thibault Poret up 9 placed to No. 26 and Flavien Coton up four positions to No. 28.
The biggest jump is the Czech Republic’s Lubomir Jancarik who has moved up 134 places to a career best No. 40. Other changes of note include Sathiyan Gnanasekaran who moved up 8 spots to No. 43, Park Ganghyeon who moved up 31 spots to No. 45, and Joe Seyfried who gained 10 spots to breach the Top 50 for the first time at No. 48.
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