Table Tennis World Ranking History

The World Ranking in table tennis has seen many different leading figures throughout history. We have compiled the yearly World Ranking leaders since 1960, as well as all ranking data on a yearly basis from that same year up until 2001, when the International Table Tennis Federation began publishing rankings regularly.

The system for compiling World Rankings during the pre-WTT and ITTF eras is simple—the major tournaments in a given year determine the best player in the world for that year. Some archived ITTF rankings from the pre-2000s were inconsistent, ranking players who had not achieved significant results in a particular year based on their previous accomplishments. We reviewed historical results and revised these rankings to make them more accurate and objective.

WORLD RANKING LEADERS YEAR BY YEAR

N – Nationality – Olympic Games – World Championships EC – European Championships AC -Asian Championships WCU – World Cup E12 – European Top 12/16 tournament.