YEAR 
The Chinese star Jiang Jialiang kept his World Ranking leader position after winning Asian Championships and finishing second at the World Cup. The highest-ranked European player was Jörgen Persson, who finished 1986 at the #2 spot after his triumph at the European Championships in Prague.
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TOP 30 PLAYERS IN THE WORLD RANKING
| # | Player Competition | EC | AC | WC | E12 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 1 |  Jiang Jialiang | x |  |  | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 2 |  Jörgen Persson | | x | 9th | 6th | x | x | x | x |  | x | x | x | x | x |
| 3 | Teng Yi | x | | x | x | x | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 4 | Chen Longcan | x | | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 5 |  Leszek Kucharski | | x | x | 5th | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 6 | Wang Hao | x | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x |
| 7 | Andrzej Grubba | | x | 6th | 8th | x | x | x | | | x | | x | x | x |
| 8 | Ulf Carlsson | | x | x | 4th | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 9 | Kim Wan | x | x | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | | x | x |
| 10 | Erik Lindh | 1/4 | x | x | | x | x | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 11 | Andrei Mazunov | 1/4 | x | x | 7th | | x | | x | x | | x | x | x | |
| 12 | Desmond Douglas | 1/4 | x | x | | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x | x | x |
| 13 | Mikael Appelgren | 1/4 | x | 5th | x | x | x | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 14 | Jan-Ove Waldner | R16 | x | x | | x | x | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x |
| 15 |  Lo Chuen-tsung | x | x | 4th | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 16 | Zoran Kalinic | R16 | x | x | x | | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x | x |
| 17 |  Zsolt Kriston | R16 | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 18 | Tibor Klampar | R16 | x | x | 9th | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 19 |  Jindrich Pansky | R16 | x | x | 10th | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 20 | Carl Prean | R16 | x | x | 11th | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 21 | Dragutin Šurbek | R16 | x | 15th | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 22 |  Kiyoshi Saito | x | x | 7th | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 23 | Yoshihito Miyazaki | x | x | 8th | x | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 24 | Hui Jun | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | | x | x |
| 25 | Milan Orlowski | R16 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 26 | Jörg Roßkopf | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 27 | Massimo Constantini | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 28 |  Stefan Stefanov | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 29 | Bela Mesaros | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 30 | Valery Shevchenko | R128 | x | x | x | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |
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