What's the story?
Following her India Open title win, Indian badminton ace PV Sindhu has climbed three spots to a career-high ranking of second in the latest BWF Rankings released on Thursday.
The Rio Olympic silver medallist was awarded 9200 points because of her India Open success which has pushed her total points to 75759 after making the necessary adjustments for the 52-week points system. She is now 12152 points adrift of the World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying, who leads the table with 87911.
Also Read: How PV Sindhu can become World No.1 in May
Sindhu is now the second Indian women’s singles player to have risen to the top two in the BWF rankings with Saina Nehwal being the other one, who went on to scale the summit.
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Sindhu's joy, unfortunately, did not last long as she was bundled out in the first round of the Malaysia Open Superseries Premier on Wednesday after a shock 21-18, 19-21, 17-21 defeat inflicted by the reigning world junior champion Chen Yufei.
Nehwal too had the same fate and crashed out following a 21-19, 13-21, 15-21 loss to the fourth seed Akane Yamaguchi.
The heart of the matter
Sindhu was not the only one who had a big jump in the rankings this week. Giant-killer Sameer Verma, who accounted for the world No. 5 Son Wan ho and world No. 15 Hu Yun, soared 11 spots to reach 27th which is four places away from his career-best 23rd. Sameer was the only Indian men’s singles player to make it to the quarter-finals.
2015 India Open champion Srikanth Kidambi, who is on the comeback trail from an ankle injury, rose two spots to 28th.
Former India Open champion Saina Nehwal, in contrast, has dropped one place to 9th in the latest rankings after bowing out to the eventual champion Sindhu in the quarter-finals.
Also Read: Malaysia Open: Disappointing start for India as Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu exit in first round
In men’s doubles, the teen team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty broke into the top 50 for the first time and is now placed at 45th. Arjun MR and Shlok Ramchandran too made it into the top 50, in 48th after a four-place jump.
India have three men’s doubles pairs in the top 50 with the top Indian pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy ranked 25th.
In women’s doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy are now at 41st having surged six spots thanks to a first round win at the India Open.
What's next?
Sindhu will next be seen in action at the Singapore Open Superseries next week where she is seeded fifth. The 21-year-old begins her campaign against the former All England Championships winner Nozomi Okuhara.
Author's Take
The early Malaysia Open loss surely has been a setback to Sindhu's chances of rising to the pinnacle of the world rankings in May. Here's hoping that it was an aberration and both the Indian shuttle queens - PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal - can bounce back at the Singapore Open next week.
