China best nation in May, Norway narrowly holds Global Cup lead
China was the top sporting nation in May, leading the monthly ranking of the Global Cup ahead of Japan and France, by a very slim margin indeed (the full table is below).
It was an extremely busy sporting month, with a slew of top tournaments, including the Ice Hockey, Judo, Table Tennis, Boxing (Amateur) and Squash World Championships, and 63 nations scored GNS points in the month.
At the top of the Global Cup’s year-to-date table, Norway, which scored only 30 points in May (in Road Cycling and Golf), retains the narrowest of leads – 2 points – over the USA.
China jumped from 17th to 9th in the year-to-date table after May, on the back of a resounding victory in the Table Tennis World Championships (grabbing 54.4% of the points on offer), while Japan edged France and Georgia in the Judo World Championships to climb three places in the year-to-date table, up to fifth.
Uzbekistan was one of the month’s surprises, finishing fourth overall courtesy of a comfortable win in the Boxing (Amateur) World Championships (ahead of Cuba and Kazakhstan), and fifth place in the Judo World Championships.
In the men’s Ice Hockey World Championships, the last event in the lengthy Snow & Ice Sports season, Canada took the title ahead of Germany, Latvia and the USA, while Egypt continued to dominate in Squash, taking both the men’s and women’s titles at this year’s world championship.
GLOBAL CUP – MAY MONTHLY RANKING
Place
|
Country
|
Points
|
Points %
|
1
|
China
|
472
|
9.0%
|
2
|
Japan
|
445
|
8.5%
|
3
|
France
|
364
|
7.0%
|
4
|
Uzbekistan
|
335
|
6.4%
|
5
|
Canada
|
207
|
4.0%
|
6
|
Georgia
|
205
|
3.9%
|
7
|
Cuba
|
195
|
3.7%
|
8
|
United States
|
187
|
3.6%
|
9
|
Kazakhstan
|
179
|
3.4%
|
10
|
South Korea
|
170
|
3.2%
|
11
|
Germany
|
164
|
3.1%
|
12
|
Russia
|
141
|
2.7%
|
13
|
New Zealand
|
128
|
2.5%
|
14
|
Italy
|
127
|
2.4%
|
15
|
Spain
|
102
|
2.0%
|
16
|
Great Britain
|
90
|
1.7%
|
17
|
Australia
|
88
|
1.7%
|
18
|
Brazil
|
86
|
1.6%
|
19
|
Switzerland
|
78
|
1.5%
|
20
|
Israel
|
78
|
1.5%
|
21
|
Mongolia
|
74
|
1.4%
|
22
|
Sweden
|
73
|
1.4%
|
23
|
Latvia
|
72
|
1.4%
|
24
|
Azerbaijan
|
68
|
1.3%
|
25
|
Egypt
|
65
|
1.2%
|
26
|
Argentina
|
64
|
1.2%
|
27
|
Fiji
|
60
|
1.2%
|
28
|
Netherlands
|
55
|
1.0%
|
29
|
Tajikistan
|
50
|
0.9%
|
30
|
India
|
50
|
0.9%
|
31
|
Hungary
|
49
|
0.9%
|
32
|
Belgium
|
47
|
0.9%
|
33
|
Austria
|
45
|
0.9%
|
34
|
Slovenia
|
44
|
0.8%
|
35
|
Armenia
|
41
|
0.8%
|
36
|
Jordan
|
39
|
0.7%
|
37
|
Czech Republic
|
36
|
0.7%
|
38
|
Mexico
|
35
|
0.7%
|
39
|
Kyrgyzstan
|
32
|
0.6%
|
40
|
Bulgaria
|
30
|
0.6%
|
41
|
Norway
|
30
|
0.6%
|
42
|
Ireland
|
28
|
0.5%
|
43
|
Taiwan
|
28
|
0.5%
|
44
|
Venezuela
|
26
|
0.5%
|
45
|
Croatia
|
24
|
0.5%
|
46
|
Finland
|
24
|
0.5%
|
47
|
Samoa
|
24
|
0.5%
|
48
|
Hong Kong
|
22
|
0.4%
|
49
|
Kosovo
|
20
|
0.4%
|
50
|
South Africa
|
16
|
0.3%
|
51
|
Turkey
|
15
|
0.3%
|
52
|
Thailand
|
15
|
0.3%
|
53
|
Zambia
|
15
|
0.3%
|
54
|
Portugal
|
12
|
0.2%
|
55
|
Morocco
|
12
|
0.2%
|
56
|
Denmark
|
10
|
0.2%
|
57
|
Ghana
|
8
|
0.1%
|
58
|
Colombia
|
8
|
0.1%
|
59
|
Belarus
|
8
|
0.1%
|
60
|
Algeria
|
5
|
0.1%
|
61
|
Serbia
|
5
|
0.1%
|
62
|
Romania
|
3
|
0.1%
|
63
|
Peru
|
3
|
0.0%
|
|
Grand Total
|
5,217
|
100.0%
|
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Greatest Sporting Nation is a ranking of countries based on their performance in top-level international tournaments in sports in which there is genuine global competition. Countries (national teams and/or individual athletes) score Qualifying Points by finishing in the top eight places in Qualifying Events.
These Qualifying Points are then weighted to produce GSN Points, based on a formula that takes into account individual vs team sports, the sport’s participation (number of countries) and the frequency (annual/biennial/quadrennial) of the tournaments.
The Country scoring the most Points in a calendar year wins the Global Cup for that year. The country that scores the most points relative to its population wins the Per Capita Cup. For a more detailed explanation, please refer to the ‘How It Works’ section on the site.