In the latest rankings released by the BWF, 16-year-old Indian shuttler Siril Verma has reclaimed his top position in the junior world rankings. Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen slipped to the 2nd position as Verma clinched the number 1 junior world ranking.
Earlier this year, a silver medal at the World Junior Badminton Champion 2015 saw the youngster claim the top spot in the rankings released in January. He was also an unseeded participant at the main round of the World Championship. He is also supported by the non-profit organisation, Olympic Gold Quest.
However, Verma went on to win six consecutive matches against much higher ranked opponents like Thailand’s Adulrach Namkul and Denmark’s Anders Antonsen. The teenager's meteoric rise was however cut short in the final as he went down fighting to Chia Hug Lu of Chinese Taipei losing 21-17 10-21 7-21.
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The young shuttler, who trains under Pullela Gopichand, announced his arrival on the big stage when he won the U-15 Asian Junior Championship in 2013. In the same year, he became the first Indian to clinch the Badminton Asia Youth Championships.
Verma had to be rushed to the hospital in 2014 after playing 10 straight matches in just three days. This did not stop his progress, though, as he made a comeback and played in the All India Junior Badminton final. He eased past Lakshya Sen in the final to claim the title.
Recently, Verma made it to the finals of the Russian Open Grand Prix 2016 before losing to Zulfadli Zulkiffli of Malaysia. He even made the quarter-finals of the Hungarian International 2016 where he lost to Victor Svendsen of Switzerland, and the quarter-finals of the Vietnam Open 2016.
Also read: 5 things to know about Junior World Championships silver medalist Siril Varma
The 2020 Olympics medal hopeful, however, had slumped to the second position in the junior rankings. In the rankings released earlier today, Malaysian Zii Jia Lee follows Wangcharoen and Verma at the top of the charts.
