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16-year-old Lakshya Sen continues his inexorable rise on the ranking chart as he climbed up a whopping 28 places to reach a career-high 109th in the latest BWF Rankings released on September 14, 2017. His performance at last week’s Vietnam Open Grand Prix where he reached the quarter-finals, effected the jump in rankings.
The prodigious talent has been on a tear of late. The Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy product won his second career international title at the Bulgarian Open in August. In four months, he has soared over 60 spots, cementing his place in the top 110 for the first time.
The other Indian singles quarter-finalist of the Vietnam Open, Ruthvika Shivani Gadde, too has good news in this week’s rankings. The South Asian Games gold medallist has risen 10 rungs to break back into the top 100 at 93rd.
The 20-year-old, who won the Russian Open last year, was on a hiatus at the beginning of the year and returned to action only at the end of May. She has been a former top-50 player.
The men’s doubles combine of Arjun MR and Shlok Ramachandran, who made it to the semi-finals of the Vietnam Open, has ascended to their career-best ranking of 37th.
Related: Interview: "Srikanth's achievements inspire me," says brother Nandagopal
Nandagopal Kidambi flourishes
The elder brother of Srikanth Kidambi, Nandagopal Kidambi had double delight last week when he reigned supreme in both men’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Kharkiv International. His mixed doubles triumph alongside Mahima Aggarwal has seen the pair jump a staggering 80 spots to 110th. This is Nandagopal’s best ever ranking in the mixed doubles section.
The two joined forces only at the Syed Modi International in January.
In men’s doubles, Nandagopal teamed up with Rohan Kapoor to edge the top seeds Tarun Kona and Alwin Francis in three games to win the title. The two stay put at 258th in the rankings.
Kona and Francis, meanwhile, made improvement by reaching the final. They have soared seven places to be 44th.
Sai Praneeth and Ajay Jayaram exchange places
The star shuttlers did not have much change. PV Sindhu, who is vying for the Korea Open Superseries title this week, continues to be fourth. Saina Nehwal holds on to her 12th position.
The 2017 World Championships bronze medallist chose to opt for rest and will be back at next week’s Japan Open Superseries.
In men’s singles, Srikanth Kidambi is static at 8th while HS Prannoy is 18th. The only change in the top 20 is that Sai Praneeth and Ajay Jayaram exchanged places. While Sai rose to 16th, Jayaram dropped to 17th.
Outside the top 20, Sameer Verma has surged one spot to 25th, his elder brother Sourabh is 33rd and Parupalli Kashyap is 45th.
In women’s doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy have plunged one rung to be 25th while in mixed doubles, Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra stick to 20th.
