BWF Rankings: Kidambi Srikanth rises one place; PV Sindhu falls out of top 3

The latest world rankings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) this week had contrasting fortunes for two of India’s top shuttlers. While Kidambi Srikanth climbed one spot to seventh, PV Sindhu slipped a solitary rung to fourth.

Saina Nehwal, who won her first BWF title in two years at the Indonesia Masters last Sunday, stayed put at the ninth position. Nehwal triumphed under the most unforeseeable circumstances when world champion Carolina Marin had to retire from the final due to a knee injury she suffered during the match.

The former World No. 1 Indian had a good run in the opening couple of weeks of the 2019 season, where she made it to the semi-finals at the Malaysia Masters before winning in Jakarta.

Among the other top shuttlers from the country, Sameer Verma dropped to 12th a week after rising to a career-high 11th ranking. HS Prannoy also slid to 19th while Sai Praneeth rose to 21st.

Parupalli Kashyap has slipped one spot to 43rd, while Subhankar Dey and Ajay Jayaram remain static at 49th and 53rd respectively. Former India national champion Sourabh Verma is now 55th.

Among the young rising stars in women’s singles, Rituparna Das is 55th, Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka is 61st and Mugdha Agrey is 72nd. Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli has gained a couple of spots to reach 74th.

The men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty did not play at the Indonesia Masters a year after reaching the semi-finals. The absence affected their rankings, sending them down by 5 spots to 21st. Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy are now 27th.

The women’s doubles duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy is currently 21st. In mixed doubles, Ponnappa and Rankireddy are 24th and are followed by the pair of Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra at 25th.