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The India No. 1 men’s singles shuttler, Kidambi Srikanth has slipped out of the top five as the latest world rankings got released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Thursday, June 21, 2018. Srikanth, who was last seen in action at the Badminton Asia Championships in April, has dropped three spots to seventh.
With the 2017 Indonesia Open Superseries Premier points dropping this week, Srikanth’s ranking got affected. This was the first of the four Superseries titles that the Guntur lad won last year.
The Pullela Gopichand protégé will return to the circuit at the Malaysia Open, scheduled to begin on June 26.
HS Prannoy, who dazzled in Indonesia in 2017, also plunged five spots to 13th. The Kerala shuttler was a giant-killer at this tournament last year and squandered five match points in his semi-final loss.
There was no change for the next two Indians in the men’s singles rankings. Sameer Verma and Sai Praneeth maintain their 19th and 21st places.
Outside the top 50, Parupalli Kashyap is 51st after suffering a slide of nine places. Subhankar Dey is 60th, Lakshya Sen is 69th and Sourabh Verma is 71st.
Big jump for Ajay Jayaram
Former India No. 1 Ajay Jayaram was rewarded with a massive jump of 39 places to 95th following his sizzling run at the US Open last week. Jayaram had been sidelined with a hamstring injury for a long time and consequently his ranking took a hit, sending him out of the top 100.
At the California tournament -- a Super 300 event -- the Mumbai ace was able to show the same qualities that once took him to a career-high ranking of 13th. He made it to the semi-finals, which was also the first time in 17 months that he made it that far at any BWF tournament.
No change for Saina and Sindhu
In women’s singles, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal remain static. While Sindhu continues to be the highest-ranked Indian at third, Nehwal is seven rungs below at 10th.
Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka is 53rd, Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli is 71st, Mugdha Agrey is 79th and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde is 80th. Former national champion Rituparna Das has plummeted 29 spots to 148th.
In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty hold on to their 18th position while Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy are placed at 22nd. Arjun MR and Shlok Ramchandran rose three places to 32nd.
The India No. 1 women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy climbed three rungs to 25th. In mixed doubles, Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra dropped a solitary spot to 21st. National mixed doubles champions, Ponnappa and Rankireddy, on the other hand, soared to 54th.
