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What's the Story?
India's Srikanth Kidambi, who has had an amazing run in 2017, is set to leapfrog Chinese shuttler Chen Long to the third place when the new BWF world rankings are released on December 21, 2017. Although he had a fabulous run this year, he had a lacklustre end to the season at the Dubai World Superseries Finals, which ended on Sunday. At the same tournament, PV Sindhu bagged the silver medal in the women's singles category.
In case you didn't know...
Kidambi belongs to the Pullela Gopichand Badminton academy which has produced a plethora of amazing badminton players for India, some of which include Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and Parupalli Kashyap.
The heart of the matter
Kidambi has a career high ranking of 2 and is presently fourth behind Chen Long. The race between Kidambi and Long for the third spot has been close. 2017 has been Srikanth's best year by a long shot. He won two BWF World Super Series Premier tournaments held in Denmark and Indonesia.
He also won a couple of BWF World Super Series tournaments which were held in Australia and France. This, in addition to finishing as the runner-up at the Singapore Open which was another BWF Super Series tournament, further strengthens his case as the World No. 3 in the year-end rankings.
What's Next?
A disappointing run at the World Superseries Finals should not dishearten Kidambi as he has performed exceptionally throughout the year, exceeding everyone's expectations. His next tournament is the Indonesia Masters which is scheduled to held from January 23-28, 2018.
Author's Take
One of India's hottest prospects, Kidambi has certainly upped his game in 2017 and will be looking forward to rising to the pinnacle of the rankings as he approaches the 2018 season. The key for Kidambi to be at his peak and be injury free for the next two years as he remains one of India's medal hopes at the 2020 Olympics, which is to be held in Tokyo.
