Table Tennis World Ranking

With effect from 1 January 2018 the ITTF introduced a new system for calculating world rankings.

It's much simpler than the old system and it's designed to encourage players to play in more World Ranking events.

Players will now receive World Ranking Points based only on the final position they reach at tournaments. So, the better they perform, the more points they'll receive.

The number of World Ranking Points a player receives are set out in the tables below, with the most prestigious events offering the most points.

So, for the two most prestigious events in the table tennis calendar - the Olympic Games and the World Championships - the winner receives 3,000 points, whilst for the World Cup and the World Tour Grand Finals the winner receives 2,550 points.

Other events award fewer World Ranking Points (see tables below) and are on a sliding scale.

Although players can enter many events throughout the year, only their best 8 results during the last 12 months are used (with a maximum of one continental event) to calculate their World Ranking.

The previous system also included losing points when they lost a match, but this no longer applies.

And separate ranking lists are now calculated for each age category (Senior, U21, Junior, Cadet) by only using results achieved in the respective age category. In the previous system, only one list was compiled and rankings for the age categories were just a sub set of the main list.

In 2019 the number of points awarded in some events were slightly altered. Here are the current lists...

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World Ranking Points are valid for 12 months, but Ranking Points awarded at the Olympic Games and World Championships are valid for longer.

Because these two events are not held annually, Ranking Points awarded at the Olympic Games are valid for 48 months but reduce by 25% each year. So the first year they're worth 100%; the second year 75%; the third year 50%, and the fourth year 25%.

And the Ranking Points awarded at the World Championships (individual and team) are valid for 24 months, but after the first year the points are reduced by 50%.

The ITTF publishes the World Ranking List at the beginning of every month, usually by the 6th day of the month.

Players who do not have any recorded international results for more than 24 months are excluded from the published ranking lists.

However, special rules apply to players who are unable to play due to injury, sickness or pregnancy.

For doubles events; Under 21 years; juniors (under 17 years) and cadets (under 14 years); the same system applies, but they use a different set of points tables (not shown here).

The system in use pre-2018 was as follows...

Players received or lost rating points for each match played in an authorised ITTF event.

The winner gained a certain number of points whilst, at the same time, points were deducted from the rating of the loser.

The number of points won or lost depended on the relative strength of the two players involved.

Points were added or deducted in accordance with a rating points table.

"Expected results" were those matches where the winner had a higher rating than the loser whilst "Unexpected results" were those matches where the winner had a lower rating than the loser.

Wins against unrated players gave no points to the winner.

When a rated player lost against an unrated player, 10 points were deducted from the rating of the losing player.

These calculations were carried out only on the basis of the rating points, without taking into account "Bonus Points" (see below).

Because some table tennis events are more important than others, the rating points on offer were also different. This was known as "weighting".

The ITTF's Competition Department classified events into three different tiers, and rating points were increased for the major events.

So, for events such as the Olympic Games, World Championships and World Cup, players received double rating points, whilst for events such as the ITTF World Tour players received points multiplied by a factor of 1.5.

Third tier events, such as the Commonwealth Games and Pan-Am Games, received normal rating points.

Bonus points, like rating points, were "weighted" and awarded in four different tiers based on the event being played.

Bonus points were generally awarded on the basis of the final positions in knockout singles events.

However, in competitions where the knockout format was not used, up to 16 players could be given bonus points.

Additionally, bonus points were awarded wherever possible for third place and for other matches where intermediate positions were played for.

These bonus points remained valid for a period of 12 months from the date of each bonus point earned.

Bonus points were not awarded for Team events, Qualifying events or Ranking (Consolation) events.

Players who had no recorded international results for 4 months or more were not included on the world ranking lists but retained their rating points for seeding purposes.

Players who had no recorded international results for 8 months or more were excluded from the world ranking lists. However they retained their rating points until they become active again, meaning that in the interim, these points could still be used for seeding purposes at non ITTF events only.

Under the pre-2018 system, players entered the table tennis world ranking list as soon as they had at least two wins against players already ranked.

Players were given Starting Points and these starting points were re-calculated each time a new World Ranking was produced, up to the moment a player reached or passed the limit of five wins and five losses against already ranked players.

Then these "Starting Points" become final.

But under the new system, every player who has earned ITTF Ranking points in an eligible tournament during the ranking period is included in the ITTF World Rankings.

The ITTF was founded in 1926, and in 1928 they published the first World Ranking list for men and for women.

For many years these rankings were only issued once a year, sometimes twice ... but in 1991, with the assistance of computers, this frequency gradually increased.

Now they're produced on a monthly basis and are generally issued within the first six days of the month.

Well, as you might expect, the Asian players, particularly the Chinese table tennis players, have dominated the table tennis world rankings for many years.

However, the new system has shaken up the rankings, and players such as Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Timo Boll from Germany are now riding high, along with Egypt's Omar Assar and Brazil's Hugo Calderano in the top twenty.

Three of the best men in the World Ranking List - All Chinese!

by courtesy of the ITTF

Please check this page each month for an update.

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To see the top 100 players on the latest table tennis world ranking lists, you can download the attached files below.

Please check this page each month for an update.

These are pdf files.