World champion and world number one Ma topped the men’s "Race to Lisbon"  standings after another extremely consistent year on the tour, winning two Super Series titles, while Fukuhara finished number one in the women’s charts after winning three World Tour titles in 2015.

The final World Tour event of this year was played in Sweden at the weekend, when the world’s best table tennis players fought it out for the final positions on the standing list.

Ma, winner at both the 2015 World Championships in Suzhou and last month's World Cup in Halmstad, did notcompete at the 2014 World Tour Grand Finals after failing to meet the criteria of competing at a minimum of five World Tour events during the year. 

"Happy to have qualified after missing out last year, and I look forward to capping off a dream year with another big title," said Ma. 

Only 16 men and 16 women were able to secure their tickets to Portugal’s capital, as well as eight men's and women's doubles pairs, and eight men's and women's under-21 players.

The Chinese pair who battled it out for gold in the end-of-season Swedish Open men’s singles final, Xu Xin and Fan Zhendong, were the next two on the men’s list, just ahead of South Korea’s Jung Youngsik and Japan’s Maharu Yoshimura, who both had breakthrough seasons on the 2015 World Tour.

China’s Zhu Yuling, the reigning China Open champion, and 15-year-old Japanese sensation Mima Ito followed Fukuhara on the women’s charts.

Despite having the second half of her season ruined by injury and sickness, world champion Ding Ning of China did enough to book her place in Lisbon, as did compatriot Liu Shiwen, the world number one and World Cup champion.

Leading the host country's charge is men's world number seven Marcos Freitas, who had a strong year on the tour to finish seventh in the Race to Lisbon standings.

The $3 million (£2 million/€2.8 million) 2015 ITTF World Tour consisted of 22 events split into three tiers based on prize money and the quality of the event.

It comprised six Super Series events as well as five Major Series events and 11 Challenge Series events.  

From these, players earned "Race to Lisbon" points to qualify for the 2015 World Tour Grand Finals, due to be held at the Pavilhão Multiusos de Odivelas from December 10 to 13.

Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC Group) are the title sponsors of the World Tour Grand Finals. 



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