It has been a memorable few weeks for the 23-year-old Sourabh Varma. The 2011 Indian national champion, who suffered from a spate of injuries in the recent past, has finally found his form. The Madhya Pradesh shuttler reached the finals of his last four tournaments, winning one – the Chinese Taipei Masters in October.
Last week, Varma made it to the summit clash at the Bitburger Open Grand Prix Gold where he lost to the new World No. 10 Shi Yuqi. That run has now helped the former World No. 30 climb 12 places to reach the 45th spot in the new BWF Rankings released on Thursday.
Varma’s younger brother, Sameer too had a decent display at the same tournament and made it to the semi-finals. He too has risen one spot to be 43rd.
Among the other Indians in men’s singles, the injured Kidambi Srikanth has jumped a couple of places to be 13th while Ajay Jayaram and HS Prannoy remain static at 23rd and 28th respectively.
B Sai Praneeth, meanwhile, has gone down two places to be 36th in the latest rankings.
Rising youngster Siril Verma has plummeted two spots from the World No. 1 position in the junior rankings to be third presently. But the 16-year-old, who lost in the first round of the Bitburger Open last week, has made it to his career- best position of 122nd in the senior rankings.
Ruthvika Shivani breaks into top 50
In women’s singles, India now has three shuttlers in the top 50 as the 19-year-old Ruthvika Shivani Gadde debuted at the 50th spot. The Russian Open champion won a round at the Bitburger Open before losing to the top seed and eventual winner He Bingjiao.
There is no change, however, for India’s leading shuttle queens – Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu –who stay at 6th and 11th respectively.
In men’s doubles, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy have risen to 22nd while Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar ascended to 29th. Indian shuttlers had a rise in mixed doubles as the pair of Chopra and N Sikki Reddy reached their career-high ranking of 23.
