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The dazzling performances by the Indian contingent at last week’s Lagos International Challenge effected a rise in the latest BWF World Rankings for the winning Indian shuttlers. The men’s singles winner, Rahul Yadav Chittaboina, was one of the biggest movers this week in the rankings released on Thursday as he leaped 32 places to reach his current ranking of 102nd.
The men’s doubles winning team of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy too rose two spots to be 31st.
Chittaboina had a fantastic run at the Nigerian tournament where he accounted for the top seed Mischa Zilberman in the quarter-finals in three gruelling games. In the final, he beat compatriot Karan Rajan Rajarajan for the title.
This was the 19-year-old’s first crown since winning the Mauritius International in June last year. Chittaboina had been in great form of late and even made it to the semi-finals of the Russian Open Grand Prix just a week before the Lagos International.
Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy continued their resurgence after enduring a barren stretch that saw them go on a nine-match losing streak. That resulted in them slipping below 40 in the rankings and they even had to relinquish their Indian No. 1 position.
With a quarter-final appearance at the Canada Open and a semi-final finish at the US Open, they have reclaimed their numero uno status in the country. And this title, which comes after a year, is indeed going to act as a huge confidence-booster.
No change for top singles stars
Among the top stars in men’s singles, there was no change in the top 50. Kidambi Srikanth holds on to the 8th spot, Ajay Jayaram to 16th, HS Prannoy to 17th and B Sai Praneeth to 19th to round off the top 20.
Sameer Verma continues to be 28th, his elder brother Sourabh Verma remains 37th and Parupalli Kashyap too is unchanged at 47th.
Subhankar Dey, Abhishek Yelegar, Anand Pawar and Harsheel Dani are the rest of the players inside the top 100.
In women’s singles, PV Sindhu remains static at 5th while Saina Nehwal too did not see any change in her ranking and is at 16th. National champion Rituparna Das maintains her 46th ranking.
