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On the day Indian shuttler HS Prannoy had to face a crushing defeat in the second round of the China Open, he climbed a place to reach a career-high ranking of 10th in the latest world rankings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). This is the first time the Kerala-born ace finds himself in the world’s top 10.
The Pullela Gopichand protégé thus joins his friend and training partner, Srikanth Kidambi as the second Indian inside the elite bracket. The latter rocketed to a career-best World No. 2 ranking following his triumph at the French Open in October.
Prannoy’s achievement makes it the first time since October, 2015 that two Indian men are in the top 10. Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap gave Srikanth company at that time.
Also read: China Open 2017: HS Prannoy laments poor scheduling after second-round loss
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Best season of Prannoy’s career
This is the latest in a series of accomplishments for Prannoy in the best season of his career. He has reached two Superseries semi-finals in a year for the first time and then followed it up by toppling the in-form Srikanth to capture his maiden Senior Nationals title.
He has also had wins over the likes of Lee Chong Wei and Chen Long which have boosted his confidence further.
Among the other Indians in the men’s singles category, Sai Praneeth slipped to 16th, Sameer Verma is 21st and Ajay Jayaram is 23rd. Kashyap dropped three spots to be 47th in the latest rankings.
Saina, Sindhu maintain their rankings
There was no change in the rankings for the top two women’s shuttler of the country. PV Sindhu is second and Saina Nehwal continues to be 11th.
While Nehwal has already bowed out of the China Open in the second round, Sindhu has marched ahead to the quarter-finals as she seeks to defend her title.
In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty plunged one rung to 28th. National champions Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy remain static at 33rd.
Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy rose one spot to 24th in women’s doubles. The India No. 1 mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Reddy slipped a solitary rung to 17th. Reigning national champions Rankireddy and Ponnappa, who qualified for the China Open, are now 86th.
