The governing body has changed its rules with the rankings now reflecting the results from every match played and not just the final positions at a tournament.

It is hoped that the new system will lead to a "more accurate way" of determining the world's best players.

The standings will now be used to allocate positions for 2018 events, including the World Championships in Liverpool.

Brtiain's double Paralympic gold medallist David Smith is the world number one in the BC1 class after going through 2017 unbeaten.

He won individual titles at the Regional Open Sant Cugat, the World Open Seville, the World Open Kansas and at the European Championships.

Smith has 167.8 ranking points, with Thailand's Pattaya Tadtong, also a Paralympic gold medallist, second on 148.5.

Another Thai, Witsanu Huadpradit, is third on 118.3.

The second Briton to top the standings is Stephen McGuire at BC4.

McGuire, the world champion in 2016, won golds at the Regional Open Sant Cugat, World Open Kansas and European Championships this year.

He has 157.5 points at the summit of the standings.

Yuansen Zheng of China is second on 128.5 while Leung Yuk-wing of Hong Kong sits third on 123.

In the BC2, Paralympic champion Worawut Saengampa of Thailand leads the way on 161.

Watcharaphon Vongsa, who beat his compatriot Saengampa to Paralympic gold at Rio 2016, is second in the standings with 146 points.

Maciel Santos of Brazil is third on 129.

The BC3 leaderboard is topped by Rio 2016 gold medallist Ho Won Jeong of South Korea, with a tally of 134.

Greece's Grigorios Polychronidis, the man Ho beat to the Paralympic title, is second on 130.5 and a second South Korean is third in Han Soo Kim.

Han has 123.5 ranking points.

Thailand have been declared as the team world number one, with South Korea and Hong Kong leading the BC3 and BC4 pairs classes respectively.