YEAR 
After winning World Championships a year earlier, the Swedish international Stellan Bengtsson continued his successful run in 1972, once again being the World Ranking leader after European Championships title run. The Japanese star Nobuhiko Hasegawa finished the year at the #2 spot, adding another Asian Championships title to his resume.
TOP 30 PLAYERS IN THE WORLD RANKING
#
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Player
Stellan Bengtsson
Nobuhiko Hasegawa
Istvan Jonyer
Xi Enting
Antun Stipančic
Istvan Korpa
Liang Geliang
Wang Wenrong
Jiri Turai
Stanislav Gomozkov
Denis Neale
Jacques Secretin
Kjell Johansson
Jaroslav Kunz
Janos Börzsei
N. van de Walle
Eberhard Schöler
Ingemar Wikström
Witold Woznica
Wilfried Lieck
Mitsuru Kōno
Tetsuo Inoue
Milan Orlowski
Dragutin Šurbek
Štefan Kollarovits
Trevor Taylor
Pål Guttormsen
Stanislaw Fraczyk
Carl-J. Bernhardt
Alan Hydes
N
EC
x
x
x
x
1/4
1/4
1/4
1/4
R16
R16
R16
R16
R16
R16
R16
R16
x
x
R32
R32
R32
R32
R32
R32
R32
R32
AC
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
E12
x
4th
x
7th
x
x
x
5th
x
10th
x
x
x
x
11th
x
x
x
x
x
8th
x
x
x
x
x
x
PRO TOUR
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Description
N – Nationality EC – European Championships AC – Asian Championships E12 – Europe Top 12 & other flags – Pro Tour events
Table Tennis Media 