China's rising star Hao Shuai has made the most progress in the top echelons of the men's world rankings issued by the International Table Tennis Federation on Wednesday.

22-year-old Hao has climbed four places to reach number 10.

His rise in the rankings is due to his performance at the Liebherr Croatian tournaments last month.

Hao reached the quarter-finals of the men's singles in Croatia, beating Kalinikos Kreanga of Greece, who was ranked number 11 at the time.

Meanwhile, the leading places in the men's world rankings remain the same. China's Wang Liqin is at number one followed by Germany's Timo Boll and Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus.

China's Zhang Yining still dominates the women's rankings, followed by compatriots Guo Yue and Guo Yan.?

(CRI English February 5, 2006)