Fan Zhendong hits a return during the men's singles final match between Fan Zhendong and Ma Long (not in photograph) of China at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash in Singapore, March 19, 2023. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

BEIJING - China's Fan Zhendong and Sun Yingsha held firm to their leading positions in the ITTF world rankings despite significant changes triggered by the expiry of world ranking points from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on Tuesday.

Fan's compatriot Wang Chuqin rose to second place in the men's singles category and Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan also moved up one spot to third. China's veteran Ma Long, who was ranked second in the previous week, slipped to fourth.

Hugo Calderano (Brazil), Truls Moregard (Sweden), Liang Jingkun (China), Qiu Dang (Germany), Lin Gaoyuan (China) and Lin Yun-Ju (Chinese Taipei) rounded out the men's top 10.

Sun, Wang Manyu, Wang Yidi, Chen Meng and Qian Tianyi, all from China, swept top five in the women's singles world rankings.

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The other top 10 female players are Mima Ito (Japan), Chen Xingtong (China), Zhang Rui (China), Hina Hayata (Japan) and Han Ying (Germany).

Sun Yingsha celebrates during the women's singles final against Chen Xingtong at the national team's first trail for the World Table Tennis Championships in Beijing, Feb 23, 2023. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

Ranking points from several other events, including the 2021 World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Contender Doha, are also due to expire.

A player's ITTF table tennis world ranking is calculated based on the total points earned from their best eight results achieved in the last 12 months.

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According to the ITTF, as the calendar for 2023 is filled with exciting events, a plan for expiring ranking points was formulated and these points are expiring in batches between January and July 2023. This decision was approved by the ITTF Executive Committee in December 2022.