YEAR 
The 24-year-old Japanese star Shigeo Itoh had a memorable year, winning the World champion title in singles event after beating the German defender Eberhard Schöler in the final match-up. Reaching the final of the World Championships in Munich helped the German international to finish the year in the second position of the World Rankings.
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TOP 30 PLAYERS IN THE WORLD RANKING
| # | Player/Competition | WC |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 1 |  Shigeo Itoh |  | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 2 |  Eberhard Schöler |  |  | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 3 | Tokio Tasaka | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 4 | Kenji Kasai | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 5 | Stanislav Gomozkov | 1/4 | | x | x | | x | | x | x | x | | |
| 6 | Jaroslav Štanek | 1/4 | | x | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x | x |
| 7 | Antun Stipančic | 1/4 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 8 | Tetsuo Inoue | 1/4 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 9 | Dragutin Šurbek | R16 | | | | | x | | x | x | x | x | x |
| 10 | Anatoly Amelin | R16 | x | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x | | x |
| 11 | Nobuhiko Hasegawa | R16 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 12 | Istvan Korpa | R16 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x |
| 13 | Istvan Jonyer | R16 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |
| 14 |  Chu Chang-suk | R16 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 15 | Chung Cha-hyun | R16 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 16 |  Sugeng Soewindo | R16 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 17 | Hans Alser | R32 | x | x | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 18 |  Jacques Secretin | R32 | x | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 19 | Sarkis Sarhayan | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x |
| 20 | Mitsuru Kōno | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 21 | Ferenc Timar | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 22 | Janos Börzsei | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 23 | Kim Chung-yong | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 24 | Stellan Bengtsson | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 25 | Wilfried Lieck | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 26 | Witold Woznica | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |
| 27 | Zlatko Čordaš | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 28 | Frierdich Haase | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 29 | Klaus Solka | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 30 | Kjell Johansson | R64 | x | x | | | x | x | x | | | x | x |
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