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Close on the heels of India's best-ever performance in badminton at the recently held Commonwealth Games, there's more good news for fans of the sport. Rising star Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian is the new World No. 1 in the boys' singles category accordng to the latest junior rankings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Tuesday.
The 18-year-old Tamil Nadu shuttler was second in the rankings a couple of weeks ago.
With Sankar’s elevation to the top, India now have a junior World No. 1 in both the singles categories. Tasnim Mir of Gujarat is already the top-ranked shuttler in the girls' singles division.
After a long gap, BWF decided to defreeze the ranking points earlier this month, which paved the way for Sankar to scale the peak in the world rankings.
In recent history, three Indian players have reached the top of the world junior rankings. Aditya Joshi of Madhya Pradesh was the first Indian junior male badminton player to climb to the pinnacle eight years ago.
Telangana’s Siril Verma, after winning the silver medal at the 2015 World Junior Championship, reached a career high of No. 1 in January 2016.
In 2017, Lakshya Sen of Uttarakhand became the junior No. 1. His elder brother, Chirag Sen, was No. 2 in the world among juniors.
Sankar Muthusamy has been making waves at the international level since 2020
Southpaw Sankar has been making waves on the junior international circuit since 2020. The talented shuttler has won two junior international titles in the last couple of years.
After emerging as champion at the 2021 Junior White Nights in Russia, Sankar also triumphed at the Iran Junior International Series the same year. He finished runner-up at the Uganda International tournament last year after losing to fellow-Indian Varun Kapur in three games.
Sankar’s coach Aravindan Samiappan expresses delight
Sankar’s coach Aravindan Samiappan, meanwhile, was ecstatic with Tuesday’s development. The Chennai-based senior coach has been training him for more than a decade now.
“I am a super proud coach today and probably having the best day of my life so far. Sankar was only seven years old when he first came to Fireball Academy. He never gets tired of training and I never get tired of coaching him," Aravindan told Sportskeeda on Tuesday.
"I have been indebted for a lifetime to the loyalty and trust shown by his family. I’m a part of their family as well.”
Strength and conditioning coach Deepak has also been of great help to Fireball Academy trainees.
India currently has only one player in the world’s top 10 in the boys' singles section, but three girls are in the world’s top 10. Haryana’s Anupama Upadhyaya and Anwesha Gowda are ranked fourth and seventh, respectively.
Ayan Rashid and Tasnim Mir, meanwhile, are ranked eighth in the U-19 mixed doubles category.
Indian junior players inside BWF top 10 rankings
U-19 boys singles
1. Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian (12345 points).
U-19 girls singles
1. Tasnim Mir (17360 points).
4. Anupama Upadhyaya (15150 points).
7. Anwesha Gowda (12360 points).
U-19 mixed doubles
8. Ayan Rashid-Tasnim Mir (10350 points).
