The pair shot up from fourth to the top place in the latest world rankings compiled by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and published on March 9.
Lin and Cheng started playing as a mixed doubles team in 2019 and rose to the world No. 2 spot in July that year. One month later, they dropped to No. 3, but they bounced back to second place in January 2020.
Amid a suspension of almost all international sports tournaments last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the pair fell in the world rankings to fourth place.
On March 6, they scored their fourth title win since 2019 at the Qatar WTT tournament. As a result, the duo earned the world No. 1 title, pushing the Chinese pair Liu Shiwen and Xu Xin down to second.
In the latest ITTF world rankings, other Taiwanese table tennis players also climbed higher, including Cheng Hsien-tzu and Chen Szu-yu, who rose three notches to third place in the women's doubles.
In the men's doubles, Taiwanese Chuang Chih-yuan and Chen Chien-an achieved their best world ranking at No. 4.
