The French Open Superseries this week did not turn out to be a favourable event for the Indian contingent as none of them managed to reach the quarter-finals. The only bright spot for Indian badminton this week, however, turned out to be the latest BWF rankings where some of the Indian shuttlers had a rise.
Men’s singles exponent HS Prannoy had the most significant ranking rise amongst singles players, jumping five spots to 27th. Ajay Jayaram was the other singles shuttler who too climbed two places to reach 21st. That leaves him just three spots shy of his career-high ranking of 18 that he attained just a month back.
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Both of them made it to the second round of the Denmark Open Superseries Premier last week which was responsible for the ranking rise.
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However, none of the other star Indian singles players had the same fate. Kidambi Srikanth, who is recuperating from an ankle injury and is out of action, suffered a slide of four places because of his hiatus. He now finds himself at the 14th spot.
Parupalli Kashyap, who is now in the midst of his comeback from a knee injury, also plummeted 11 places to 90th. The former World No. 6 bowed out in the first round of qualifying in Denmark.
Saina, Sindhu drop down in rankings
Rio Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu too plunged two spots after failing to defend her final points that she earned at the Denmark Open last year. The tournament in Odense was Sindhu’s first event since winning the Olympic medal where she crashed out in the second round.
Consequently, her ranking dropped to 10. Saina Nehwal, who is set to return to the China Open next month, also slid down one place to 6th.
Chopra and Reddy at career-best ranking of 25th
In doubles, the mixed doubles duo of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy had a big jump of five places to reach their career-high ranking of 25. Though the pair lost in the first round of the Denmark Open, they had a sizzling run before that, capturing the Brazil Grand Prix and the Russian Open Grand Prix titles back-to-back.
But there was no such luck for the men’s doubles duo of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, who slid down three spots to 25th.
In women’s doubles, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, who have a taken a break from the Tour, are now at 26th.
