TABLE TENNIS/Taiwanese paddlers move up in world table tennis rankings

Taipei, March 19 (CNA) Taiwanese paddlers Lin Yun-ju (林昀儒), Cheng I-ching (鄭怡靜) and Li Yu-jhun (李昱諄) moved up in the world rankings following their performances at the Singapore table tennis tournament that concluded last week.

Based on the latest International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rankings, Lin rose two spots to world No. 6 in the men's singles after reaching the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash semifinals.

Lin earned 700 points after his 2-4 loss to Liang Jingkun (梁靖崑) of China, and climbed from eighth to sixth in the ITTF rankings with a total of 3,106 points.

The ITTF and its subsidiary WTT hold international tournaments and the ITTF maintains official world ranking lists based on players' results in tournaments throughout the year.

Meanwhile, Cheng and Li also moved up two positions to world No. 3 in the women's doubles, despite losing 0-3 to Chinese duo Chen Meng (陳夢) and Wang Manyu (王曼昱) in the final of the Singapore tournament.

According to the ITTF rankings, Wang Chuqin (王楚欽) of China is currently world No. 1 in the men's singles with 8.020 points, while Korean paddlers Jeon Jihee and Shin Yubin top the women's doubles ranking with 4,520 points.

Taiwanese player Chuang Chih-yuan (莊智淵) dropped four positions to world ranked No. 39 after losing in the second round of the men's singles at the Singapore Smash, held from March 7-17.