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The early losses suffered by the top Indian shuttlers at the French Open proved costly as both Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu dropped in the latest world rankings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) this week.
Srikanth’s failure to defend his crown in Paris pushed him down by three spots to ninth. The Guntur-born former World No. 1 men’s singles shuttler lost to current World No. 1 and world champion Kento Momota in the quarter-finals.
A year after making it to the semi-finals of the French Open, PV Sindhu bowed out in the quarter-finals to He Bingjiao of China. It made her drop a solitary rung to No. 3 while eventual champion Akane Yamaguchi moved up to No. 2.
There was no change in the rankings for Saina Nehwal, who too lost in the quarter-finals to World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying. The London Olympic bronze medallist stays at No. 9 this week.
Sameer Verma becomes new India No. 2
Among the other Indian men’s singles shuttlers, the Swiss Open titlist Sameer Verma became the new India No. 2 as HS Prannoy suffered a massive slide in the latest world rankings. The Kerala player could not participate in the European swing due to an injury. That affected his rankings as he had reached the semi-finals at the French capital last year.
While Verma remains static at No. 18, Prannoy plummeted six places to No. 23.
Sai Praneeth is No. 25, Sourabh Verma is No. 47, Ajay Jayaram is No. 52, Parupalli Kashyap is No. 59, and Subhankar Dey is No. 64.
Rankireddy and Shetty climb up four places
The semi-final appearance at the French Open hauled the top Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty up by four places to No. 21. Rankireddy and Shetty beat the men’s doubles national champions Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy to reach the semi-finals, where their run was cut short by the World No. 1 pair of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.
Attri and Reddy too rose three spots to No. 26 after their spirited show in Paris last week.
In women’s doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy slipped a couple of spots to No. 26. The mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy fell to No. 22 while Ponnappa and Rankireddy jumped five rungs to No. 28.
