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Former Indian national badminton champion Sourabh Verma’s title triumph at the Russian Open last week propelled him up to 55 after a rise of 10 places in the new world rankings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Thursday, August 2, 2018. This was Verma’s first international title since capturing the Chinese Taipei Masters in October of 2016.
The 25-year-old had been struggling with an ankle injury for more than a year, due to which he had been playing intermittently on the circuit. It is only since May that the Pullela Gopichand protégé has been playing regularly again.
There was no change in the rankings for the top men’s singles shuttlers. Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, Sameer Verma and Sai Praneeth maintain their sixth, 11th, 19th and 26th positions respectively. Parupalli Kashyap slid three rungs to 49th while Subhankar Dey and Ajay Jayaram moved up to 61st and 71st respectively. Lakshya Sen dropped a solitary place to 77th.
Saina and Sindhu static
The top women’s singles superstars also saw no change in their rankings this week. PV Sindhu continues to be the highest ranked Indian presently at third and Saina Nehwal is just a few places behind her at 10th.
Beyond the top 50, Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka is 52nd, Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli is 71st, Ruthvika Shivani Gadde is 79th, and Mugdha Agrey is 84th.
In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty hold on to the 25th spot. Indian national champions Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy are four places below at 29th. Arjun MR and Shlok Ramchandran also maintain their 40th position.
In women’s doubles, Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy too are static at 28th while Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram dropped to 35th.
Garg and Kapoor become new India No. 2 mixed pair
The top Indian mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Reddy continues to be ranked 22nd.
Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg have rocketed nine places to 36th and have become the new India No. 2 duo following their runner-up finish at the Russian Open last week. This is a career-high ranking in mixed for either of Kapoor and Garg.
National mixed doubles champions Ponnappa and Rankireddy slipped one spot to 40th in the latest world rankings.
