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The All England Open 2018, the year's first Super 1000 tournament, took place between 14th to 18th March and witnessed the Indian shuttlers enjoying mixed fortunes. With the performances at the All England, next week's BWF rankings will see a distinctive change in the ranks of few Indians although the likes of Kidambi Srikanth, Saina Nehwal and P.V Sindhu are set to hold onto their spots.
Kidambi Srikanth who climbed the rung to No.2, to his career-best ranking, will retain his spot. This ranking happens to stay, despite losing his pre-quarterfinal match against Huang Yuxiang of Taipei on Thursday to end his stint at the tournament. However, he will miss out on the World No. 1 rank by 235 points. If he had managed to make it to the quarters, the 23-year-old would have been crowned No. 1 on this Thursday.
Nevertheless, Viktor Axelsen is set to lose 2000 points from last year's Malaysia Open and since there is no major tournament until mid-April, Srikanth could become the World No 1, for the first time in his career, as early as in April.
P.V Sindhu, despite her super showing at the All England, is set to retain her position at No. 3. Saina Nehwal who lost her opening round to China's Tai Tzu Ying will remain put at No.12 in the rankings.
Next week's ranking will also see a steady climb up the rung for HS Prannoy who will stand at No. 12 as he will climb up four spots from his previous ranking. Prannoy had a successful stint at the All England Open having made it to the quarter-final after beating Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto.
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will also climb up one spot to rank 20, while B Sai Praneeth is set to go down by three places to stand at no. 15. Praneeth had a disappointing outing at All England as he went down fighting to World No 3 Son Wan Ho.
While Kidambi Srikanth and P.V Sindhu rank highest amongst the Indians in the BWF predictions, they are surpassed by the likes of Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, Tai Tzu Ying of Taipei and Japan's Akane Yamaguchi who hold the 1st and 2nd rankings respectively.
