Fabulous Fan on top of the world

China's Fan Zhendong has taken over the global No 1 spot for the first time in his career after he replaced German Timo Boll in the latest International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) world rankings released on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old Fan, who had been the world No 2 since Nov 2015, claimed the Qatar Open last month to earn enough ranking points to rise to the top.

"It is an amazing feeling to become the word No 1, it has always been a big dream of mine," Fan, the 2017 world championships runner-up, said in a statement.