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. 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.
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| # | Player/ Competition | WC | WCU | E12 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 1 | Jan-Ove Waldner |  | 15th | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 2 | Jörgen Persson |  | 11th |  | x | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 3 |  Andrzej Grubba | | | x | x | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 4 | Yu Shentong | | 8th | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 5 | Tibor Klampar | 1/4 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 6 | Xu Zengcai | 1/4 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | | x | x |
| 7 |  Kim Taek-soo | 1/4 | 10th | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 8 | Jiang Jialiang | 1/4 | 5th | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 9 | Ma Wenge | R16 | | x | x | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 10 | Erik Lindh | R16 | x | | x | x | x | | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 11 |  Kim Song-hui | R16 | x | x | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 12 | Xie Chaojie | R16 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x |
| 13 | Chu Jong-chol | R16 | x | x | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 14 | Kiyoshi Saito | R16 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 15 |  Zoran Primorac | R16 | x | 8th | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x | x | x |
| 16 | Yoo Nam-kyu | R16 | 9th | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | | x | x |
| 17 | Mikael Appelgren | R32 | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 18 | Chen Zhibin | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x |
| 19 | Li Gun-sang | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | | x | x |
| 20 |  Carl Prean | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | | x | x | x | x | x |
| 21 | Miroslav Cecava | R32 | x | x | x | | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 22 |  Jörg Roßkopf | R32 | x | 7th | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 23 | Ahn Jae-hyung | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 24 | Kim Ki-taek | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 25 | Ulf Carlsson | R32 | x | 12th | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 26 | Chen Longcan | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 27 | Lo Chuen-tsung | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 28 | Ding Yi | R32 | x | x | 4th | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 29 |  Wu Wen-chia | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| 30 | Wang Yonggang | R32 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
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