World Badminton Championships 2018: PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Srikanth Kidambi, HS Prannoy qualify by virtue of latest rankings

By virtue of their current ranking points, India’s top four singles players, PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Srikanth Kidambi, HS Prannoy, have qualified for the Badminton World Championships to be held in late July.in Nanjing, China.

Based on the latest BWF World Rankings, which were released on Thursday, as many as 12 Indian shuttlers made the first list of qualifiers. B Sai Praneeth, who unfortunately did not make the Indian team for the Commonwealth Games 2018, is also on the list.

Saina has been in a terrific run of form, having won the gold medal in Gold Coast and made it to the semifinals at the ongoing Badminton Asia Championships in Wuhan and will be looking to secure her third World Championship medal.

In men's doubles, two Indian pairs have made the list so far. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the silver medallists Commonwealth Games, and B Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri, will feature in this category.

Ashwini Ponnappa, who was the unlikely star in Gold Coast, qualified for two events -- women's doubles alongside N Sikki Reddy and mixed doubles alongside Satwiksairaj. Poorvisha S Ram and J Meghana also qualified as the second-best ranked Indian pair. In mixed doubles, alongside Ponnappa and Satwik, Sikki and Pranaav Jerry Chopra made the cut as well.

In men's singles, defending champion Viktor Axelsen and heads the list. Among the other prominent names are, Lin Dan, Shi Yuqi, Son Wan Ho, Chou Tien Chen, and Lee Chong Wei. In the women's division, Akane Yamaguchi, defending champion Nozomi Okuhara, , Tai Tzu Ying, Ratchanok Intanon.

At last year's event, both Saina and Sindhu scripted history when they returned with the bronze and silver medals respectively. It was the first time when Indian shuttlers won two medals at the same World Championships.