Fan Zhendong of China returns the ball during the men's singles final match between Ma Long of China and his compatriot Fan Zhendong at 2020 ITTF finals in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province, Nov. 22, 2020. (Xinhua/Li Jianan)

Chinese paddlers Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng sat on top of men's and women's singles respectively as the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) announced the world rankings for December 2020.

BEIJING, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese paddlers Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng sat on top of men's and women's singles respectively as the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Tuesday announced the world rankings for December 2020.

The ITTF last revealed its world rankings on April 16 before freezing it as international table tennis action was brought to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An eight-month hiatus was ended when the ITTF's restart series, comprising the Women's and Men's World Cups and the Finals, was staged in China last month.

Crowned at the World Cup, Fan remained atop the men's world rankings. He was followed by compatriots Xu Xin, Ma Long and Lin Gaoyuan.

Chen Meng of China returns the ball during the women's singles semifinals against Chen Xingtong of China at World Table Tennis (WTT) Macao 2020 Tournament in Macao, south China, Nov. 28, 2020. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

Japanese teenager Tomokazu Harimoto dropped to fifth. The sixth to tenth ranked players were Hugo Calderano (Brazil), Lin Yun-Ju (Chinese Taipei), Mattias Falck (Sweden), Liang Jingkun (China) and Timo Boll (Germany).

Chen displayed a favorable form in recent international matches, winning the World Cup and the Finals consecutively. She stayed on top place of women's world rankings with 19,750 points.

Chen's teammate Sun Yingsha surpassed Japan's Mima Ito to second. China's Wang Manyu, Ding Ning, Zhu Yuling and Liu Shiwen were placed from fourth to seventh.

Also in women's top 10 were Cheng I-Ching (Chinese Taipei), Kasumi Ishikawa (Japan) and Wang Yidi (China). ■