BWF Rankings: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty drop 4 spots; PV Sindhu stays at 10th

Asian Games men's doubles champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have plummeted four spots to fifth in the latest world rankings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Tuesday, October 31.

The ranking slide was a result of their inability to defend their title at last week's French Open tournament in Rennes. The 2022 winners bowed out of this Super 750 event in the Round of 16 after a heartbreaking 23-25, 21-19, 19-21 defeat to former world champions Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan.

Rankireddy and Shetty had earlier created history as the first Indian doubles pair to climb to the pinnacle of the world rankings during their historic 2023 Asian Games campaign in Huangzhou, China.

They have played only one tournament since their continental glory — the French Open — where they managed only a solitary win over the local combine of Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar.

Among the other top Indian shuttlers, PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, and Kidambi Srikanth all maintained their current rankings.

Sindhu stayed put at 10th in women's singles despite suffering a knee injury during her French Open Round-of-16 clash against Thailand's Supanida Katethong, which forced the Indian to retire.

In men's singles, HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth are ranked eighth, 17th and 22nd, respectively. Sen and Srikanth both succumbed to first-round defeats at the French Open, while Asian Games bronze medalist Prannoy opted out of the Rennes tournament.

In women's doubles, India's top pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand continued to hold on to the 18th position. In mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Sikki Reddy are India's highest-ranked team at 40th.

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India's premier shuttlers to be back in action in November

While the biggest Indian shuttlers have taken a break this week, they will be back in November as a host of top events are lined up.

The Asian swing will resume with the Korea Masters (November 7-12), Japan Masters (November 14-19), China Masters (November 21-26), and Syed Modi India International (November 28 - December 3), which are scheduled to be held in back-to-back weeks.

India's highest-ranked men's singles shuttler Prannoy skipped the European swing to rehab his back injury and be ready for the Japan event. Sen and Srikanth are also on the players' list for this Super 500 tournament.

Sindhu and Rankireddy/Shetty, too, are expected to be back in action in Kumamoto, Japan, for this tournament.