BWF Rankings: HS Prannoy up to 17th, four Indians in top 20

Indian men continue to make merry on the BWF circuit.

In the latest BWF World Rankings released on Thursday, July 27, India has four men’s singles players in the top 20 with HS Prannoy shooting up to 17th after his US Open Grand Prix Gold win.

This was the Kerala shuttler’s first international title of the season and his third career triumph, making him the first ever Indian winner of the US Open.

It guaranteed him a rise of six places from his previous ranking of 23rd and now leaves him just five spots shy of his career-best ranking of 12th that he achieved in 2015.

Prannoy thus wrests away the India No. 3 position from the Singapore Open Superseries winner B Sai Praneeth, who drops to 19th. Only Srikanth Kidambi and Ajay Jayaram are ahead of the duo at 8th and 16th respectively.

Kashyap back in top 50, rise for Sameer Verma too

The latest rankings brought delight for the other star of last week - Parupalli Kashyap, as well. The Commonwealth Games gold medallist had a remarkable run to the final, upsetting the top seed and defending champion Lee Hyun II on the way.

Even in the summit clash, he snatched a game from Prannoy before going down in three. The massive effort rewarded the 30-year-old a 12-place jump to put him back inside the top 50 at 47th.

For Kashyap, whose career has been blighted by several injuries of late, this was his best performance in a while and his first final since winning the Syed Modi International in January, 2015.

His presence makes it as many as seven Indians in the top 50. He joins the Syed Modi International champion Sameer Verma (28th) and his elder brother Sourabh Verma (37th) in the 21-50 rankings section.

Sameer, who returned to competition after a shoulder injury, ascended four rungs after reaching the quarter-finals of the US Open last week.

Anand Pawar jumps 21 spots

The Dutch International champion Anand Pawar too made a massive leap. The 31-year-old made it to the quarter-finals of the Russian Open Grand Prix last week and has now risen 21 spots to be 94th.

Pawar has been a former World No. 30.

In women’s singles, PV Sindhu stays put at 5th while Saina Nehwal slides to 16th. National champion Rituparna Das is 46th.

Attri-Reddy combination back to India No. 1

Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, who endured a barren stretch for some months, are now back to being the India No. 1 pair in men’s doubles after a couple of good runs at the Canada Open and the US Open in back-to-back weeks.

The duo reached the semi-finals of the US Open where they were edged 20-22 in the third game by the top seeds Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han in a gruelling match. The Indians have now banked on that to ride to the 33rd spot that puts them four places above the young team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.

Arjun MR and Ramchandran Shlok are now at 41st while Tarun Kona and Francis Alwin are at 49th.

Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy, who endured a shock first round defeat at the US Open, have plunged three spots to 20th in mixed doubles.