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Kidambi Srikanth climbed a spot to get back to his career-best position of World No. 2 in the latest world rankings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Thursday, March 15, 2018. The rise was possible due to points earned from the 2017 All England Open coming off, that pushed the defending champion Lee Chong Wei down by three rungs to fifth.
Each of Lee’s next three opponents rose as Srikanth became the No. 2, Son Wan Ho the No. 3 and Chen Long the No. 4 players in the new rankings list.
Since Srikanth crashed out in the first round of the world’s oldest badminton tournament last year, his All England Open points did not contribute to his ranking. That is the reason why he continues to have a total points tally of 75695, just 1435 points adrift of the World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen.
Since the world champion has pulled out of the mega Birmingham event this week due to an ankle surgery, Srikanth has a chance of becoming the new World No. 1 next week if he can win the title. The Guntur-born shuttler saved a match point in a tough opener against Brice Leverdez to move into the second round.
Singapore Open Superseries winner B Sai Praneeth too climbed up a couple of spots to be 12th. HS Prannoy plummeted four places to 16th.
Outside the top 20, the Swiss Open titlist Sameer Verma too nosedived four spots to be 36th while Parupalli Kashyap stays put at 41st. The recuperating Ajay Jayaram plunged seven rungs to be 56th, Sourabh Verma is 59th and Subhankar Dey is 63rd.
Sindhu rises, Saina falls
In women’s singles, PV Sindhu exchanged places with the former world champion Ratchanok Intanon to be the No. 3 player. The 22-year-old is now a solitary spot shy of matching her career-high ranking of No. 2.
Due to Nitchaon Jindapol reaching the semi-finals of last week’s German Open, she surged to 11th, pushing Saina Nehwal down to 12th.
15-year-old Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka’s run to the semi-finals of the Brazil International hauled her up by five places to a career-high ranking of 64th. She is now right behind the 63rd ranked Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli.
Former national champions Ruthvika Shivani Gadde and Rituparna Das are 55th and 86th respectively.
Career-high ranking for Rankireddy and Shetty
The top Indian men’s doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty soared four spots to reach a new career-high ranking of 21st. The rise has been triggered by a couple of other pairs’ fall, which is why Satwik and Chirag still have the same points tally of 39366 as last week.
The India No. 2 pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, who won the 2017 Senior National Championships, is 33rd.
In women’s doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy are 25th. The top Indian mixed doubles combine of Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra won a round at last week’s German Open, which propelled a rise of two spots to 25th. National champions Ponnappa and Rankireddy are currently placed at 57th.
