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Indian shuttlers continue to break new ground with five shuttlers finding a place in the top 20 of the men’s singles category in the latest BWF World Rankings released on Thursday, i.e. September 28, 2017.
Srikanth Kidambi continues to lead the Indian men and is unchanged at the eighth spot. HS Prannoy made a jump of four places to climb to 15th, which is just three rungs away from his career-best 12th.
Sai Praneeth remains at 17th while Sameer Verma soared two spots to reach a career-high 19th. The 20th-ranked Ajay Jayaram rounds off the top 20.
This latest achievement comes on the back of quarter-final appearances made by Srikanth and Prannoy at last week’s Japan Open Superseries. Sameer Verma, who reached the Korea Open Superseries quarter-finals a week before, made it to the second round in Tokyo.
Outside the top 20, Sourabh Verma too gained two places and became 33rd. Parupalli Kashyap, in contrast, fell three rungs to 46th after losing in the final round of qualifying at the Japan Open.
21-year-old Aditya Joshi, who finished as runner-up at the Ethiopia International, surged nine places to reach a career-best 80th.
No change for the top stars in women’s singles
In women’s singles, the top Indian stars, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal maintain their World No. 2 and World No. 12 rankings respectively. National champion Rituparna Das plunged to 47th while 19-year-old Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli has made her debut in the top 60 at the 60th spot.
Rise in rankings for Reddy and Chopra
The mixed doubles pair of Sikki Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra outshone all other Indian shuttlers at the Japan Open after making the semi-finals. Their brilliant performance has now been rewarded with a climb to 17th.
This was the first time that the former World No. 13 duo reached the semi-finals at any Superseries tournament. They started the 2017 season on a grand note by capturing the Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold title.
Shlok and Arjun rise in men’s doubles
In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty continue to be the India No. 1 pair at 32nd with Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy right after them at 33rd.
The young pair of Arjun MR and Shlok Ramchandran surged three places to 37th following their title win at the Ethiopia International. This is the career-best ranking for the duo.
Colossal jump for new women’s doubles pairing
Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy hold on to 23rd in the women’s doubles section. Meanwhile, the brand new partnership of Maneesha K and Arathi Sara Sunil made a colossal jump of 355 places to be 267th in the latest rankings following their runner-up finish at the Polish International last week.
