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The Indian national men’s singles champion HS Prannoy rose one spot to 12th in the latest world rankings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Thursday, March 8, 2018. The Kerala shuttler has not been seen on the circuit except for one match at the India Open as he had been battling with warts on his feet.
The 25-year-old has now recovered his fitness after undergoing a procedure to remove them and started training only from the middle of February. His first tournament since that break will be the All England Open, although he self-admittedly doesn’t expect to be at 100% there since he could not get enough time for high-level training.
The other two top-20 Indians in men’s singles -- Kidambi Srikanth and Sai Praneeth -- remained static at the third and 14th positions respectively. Swiss Open champion Sameer Verma climbed a rung to 32nd, Parupalli Kashyap is 41st and Ajay Jayaram is 49th.
Outside the top 50, former national champion Sourabh Verma is now 60th while Subhankar Dey is 65th.
No change for Saina and Sindhu
In women’s singles, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal saw no change in their rankings this week. The Rio Olympic silver medallist continues to be the top Indian at No. 4 and the former World No. 1 maintains her 11th spot.
Tata Open champion Ruthvika Shivani Gadde is 55th, former national champion Rituparna Das is 85th. 15-year-old Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka continues her inexorable rise up the rankings chart and is now placed at a career-best 69th.
Kona and Sharma break into top 100
India’s only title winners last week -- the men’s doubles pair of Tarun Kona and Saurabh Sharma -- jumped 19 places to 89th following their victory at the Jamaica International. This was the second title for the new pair, who joined forces only in November.
Their first triumph came at the South Africa International towards the end of last year, where they stunned the top seeds in the final.
Among others, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are unchanged at 25th, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy are still 32nd.
In women’s doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy are 26th. The top Indian mixed doubles pair of Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra is 27th while national champions Ponnappa and Rankireddy are 58th.
