YEAR 
The 24-year-old Jan-Ove Waldner won the World champion title in Dortmund and finished the year as the World Ranking leader for the first time in his career. Three of the best players in the World in 1989 were the European table tennis stars. The Swedish international – Jörgen Persson finished the year in second position, but the Polish star, Andrzej Grubba was placed third after his successful run at the World Championships.
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
Jan-Ove Waldner
Jörgen Persson
Andrzej Grubba
Yu Shentong
Tibor Klampar
Xu Zengcai
Kim Taek-soo
Jiang Jialiang
Ma Wenge
Erik Lindh
Kim Song-hui
Xie Chaojie
Chu Jong-chol
Kiyoshi Saito
Zoran Primorac
Yoo Nam-kyu
Mikael Appelgren
Chen Zhibin
Li Gun-sang
Carl Prean
Miroslav Cecava
Jörg Roßkopf
Ahn Jae-hyung
Kim Ki-taek
Ulf Carlsson
Chen Longcan
Lo Chuen-tsung
Ding Yi
Wu Wen-chia
Wang Yonggang
N
WC
1/4
1/4
1/4
1/4
R16
R16
R16
R16
R16
R16
R16
R16
R32
R32
R32
R32
R32
R32
R32
R32
R32
R32
R32
R32
R32
R32
WCU
15th
11th
8th
x
x
10th
5th
x
x
x
x
x
x
9th
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
E12
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
8th
x
x
x
x
x
x
7th
x
x
12th
x
x
4th
x
x
PRO TOUR
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Description
N – Nationality WC – World Championships WCU – World Cup E12 – Europe Top 12 & other flags – Pro Tour events
Table Tennis Media 