Lim Jong-hoon (Korea Exchange) and Shin Yu-bin (Korean Air) have claimed the No. 1 spot in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) world rankings.
According to the ITTF website on Tuesday, the Lim-Shin pair rose one place to first in the mixed doubles world rankings for Week 7, released on Sunday. This marks the first time the duo has reached the top of the mixed doubles rankings.
The pair competed in their first mixed doubles event of the year at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Contender Doha last month, where they were eliminated in the round of 16.
However, they benefited from the expiration of points from last year's WTT Singapore event, which caused the previous No. 1 pair Lin Shidong and Kuai Man of China to drop two places to third.
WTT includes up to eight tournaments in its world ranking calculations, with points expiring after one year.
The former top-ranked Chinese pair won the Singapore Smash last year but has seen their tournament count shrink to five due to reduced participation in international competitions.
In contrast, the Korean duo secured their top ranking by earning 1,500 points from winning the WTT Finals in Hong Kong last year and maintaining a full count of eight tournaments through consistent competition.
Lim and Shin won the bronze medal in mixed doubles at the 2024 Paris Olympics. After claiming three WTT series titles last year in Chennai, Ljubljana, and Zagreb, they defeated Lin and Kuai 3-1 in the semifinals and Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha of China 3-0 in the final to win the Hong Kong Finals.
Their next competition is the WTT Singapore Smash, running from February 19 to March 1. The tournament allows only one pair per country in mixed doubles. China will field world No. 9 Huang Yuzheng and Chen Yi rather than the Lin-Kuai or Wang-Sun pairs.
The Korean duo is expected to face competition from world No. 4 Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong, No. 5 Hugo Calderano and Bruna Takahashi of Brazil, and No. 9 Matsushima Sora and Harimoto Miwa of Japan.