India’s growing supremacy in badminton was reaffirmed yesterday when the latest BWF singles rankings were released. The country now boasts as many as 14 men and 7 women in the top 100 of the world in men’s and women’s singles respectively.
However, it is the Indian men, and not the women, who have been in the news in the last few weeks. In fact, in the last few months, it is them who have taken the spotlight away from women’s singles. India no longer have to depend on the likes of Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu to win laurels for the country in badminton.
Indeed, the fact that there are 14 men in the top 100 of the world, the highest for any country, is simply incredible. Indonesia, with nine representatives in the top 100, comes second while Denmark follow with eight. China and Malaysia have seven representatives each.
For the Indians, Kidambi Srikanth leads the way, of course. Following his back-to-back Superseries victories in Indonesia and Australia, the 24-year-old climbed back into the top 8 this week. B Sai Praneeth, who set the ball rolling with a superb win in Singapore, also climbed up the rankings.
Although he could not make it past the quarters in Australia, he climbed one place to 15th.
Ajay Jayaram is at 16th, HS Prannoy, who has been much talked about following his wins over Lee Chong Wei and Chen Long, is at 23rd and Sameer Verma is placed at 33rd.
Following Sameer very closely is his elder brother Sourabh Verma, who is at 35th. Thus, India have six representatives in the top 50 itself, which is more than what Korea or most of the other countries for that matter have.
Making a comeback from a shoulder injury, Parupalli Kashyap jumped 11 places to be ranked 60th. Pratul Joshi (66), Subhankar Dey (73), Siril Verma (80), Anand Pawar (86), Abhishek Yelegar (89), Harsheel Dani (94) and Aditya Joshi (98) make up the list of the other Indians in the top 100.
Siril Verma, however, needs a special mention. The 17-year-old grabbed his career-best ranking following his exploits in the qualifying rounds of the Australian Open.
One of the biggest reasons for this massive improvement can be drawn back to the appointment of Mulyo Handoyo. The combination of his expertise in the sport and Pullela Gopichand’s extensive experience has worked wonders for the Indians and the result is there to see for everyone.
| Sl No | Country | No. of players in Men’s top 100 |
| 1 | India | 14 |
| 2 | Indonesia | 9 |
| 3 | Denmark | 8 |
| 4 | China | 7 |
| 5 | Malaysia | 7 |
