China best nation in May, Norway narrowly holds Global Cup lead

China won the 2023 Table Tennis World Championships – pict. by djimenezhdez from Pixabay

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.