Jorgan Persson edges out Jean-Michel Saive

Photo courtesy of ITTF

Twenty players based on the world rankings gain direct entry to the Olympic Games with the extra condition that only 2 from any one country can qualify. Due to this condition the last direct place is going to the player ranked 27th. This is where it gets interesting. The rankings are calculated to 2 decimal places but only a whole number is usually displayed and this had Jorgan Persson and Jean-Michel Saive equal on 11957 points. It was not until the 4th of January when the ITTF ranking experts revealed that Persson had just squeezed out Saive by the smallest of margins.

An Amazing Record

Both Persson and Saive have competed in every Olympic Games since the sport was introduced in 1988. Saive will get another chance to maintain this incredible record in the upcoming qualifying tournaments. However, neither has managed to win a medal of any colour yet. Will 2008 be their year?

Direct Qualifiers - Men

1. WANG Hao CHN 1 12965.50
2. MA Lin CHN 2 12866.75
3. BOLL Timo GER 1 12578.75
4. SAMSONOV Vladimir BLR 1 12507.75
5. RYU Seung Min KOR 1 12377.75
6. OH Sang Eun KOR 2 12282.25
7. GAO Ning SIN 1 12242.75
8. LI Ching HKG1 12177.00
9. CHUAN Chih-Yuan TPE 1 12106.75
10. KREANGA Kalinikos GRE 1 12074.25
11. SCHLAGER Werner AUT 1 12028.00
12. KAN Yo JPN 1 12000.75
13. OVTCHAROV Dimitrij GER 2 11995.50
14. SMIRNOV Alexei RUS 1 11994.00
15. YANG Zi SIN 2 11993.75
16. KO Lai Chak HKG 2 11984.00
17. PRIMORAC Zoran HRV 1 11983.00
18. MAZE Michael DEN 1 11973.50
19. HE Zhiwen ESP 1 11959.00
20. PERSSON Jorgen SWE 1 11957.50

Direct Qualifiers - Women

1. GUO Yue CHN 1 12807.75
2. ZHANG Yining CHN 2 12793.50
3. WANG Yue Gu SIN 1 12443.25
4. JIANG Huajun * * HKG 1 12426.50
5. LI Jia Wei SIN 2 12409.25
6. TIE Yana * * HKG 2 12228.75
7. FUKUHARA Ai JPN 1 12219.25
8. KIM Kyung Ah KOR 1 12128.00
9. WU Jia Duo GER 1 12086.00
10. HIRANO Sayaka JPN 2 12068.75
11. LIU Jia AUT 1 12061.50
12. LI Jiao NED 1 12059.25
13. GAO Jun USA 1 12047.00
14. PARK Mi Young KOR 2 12019.00
15. BOROS Tamara HRV 1 11982.25
16. LI Qian POL 1 11957.25
17. WANG Chen USA 2 11951.75
18. TOTH Krisztina HUN 1 11936.75
19. DODEAN Daniela ROU 1 11899.75
20. WOSIK Elke GER 2 11867.25