BWF Rankings: India now has 14 men and 7 women in top 100 of singles

India’s growing supremacy in the world of badminton is validated by the fact that the country now has 14 men and 7 women in the top 100 of the latest BWF singles rankings released this Thursday. PV Sindhu is currently the highest ranked Indian overall at 5^th in women’s singles while the other Indian superstar – Saina Nehwal – improved her ranking by one rung to be 15^th after her Australian Open title defence ended in the quarter-finals.

The two are joined by the reigning national champion Rituparna Das at 47^th which makes it three women inside the top 50. The 20-year-old Das has been quietly making her mark on the international stage and reached the quarter-finals of the Syed Modi International in January.

Another bright talent – Ruthvika Shivani Gadde – who was on a break for the last few months, already has one Grand Prix title to her credit. The Russian Open champion has long been touted as the next emerging star in women’s singles from India. She won two rounds of qualifying last week in Australia which helped her jump 11 spots to be 64^th.

Apart from them, the others inside the top 100 are Tanvi Lad at 63^rd, Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli at 79^th and Saili Rane at 100^th.

Men’s singles is now a force to reckon with

The country can bank upon its men’s singles stars too, who can last the distance

But what has really been noteworthy in the past few weeks is that how Indian men’s singles has become a force to reckon with and has taken the spotlight away from women’s singles. India is no longer dependent on just the likes of Saina and Sindhu to deliver the goods.

The country can bank upon its men’s singles stars too, who can last the distance.

A better training regimen with focus on fitness has been one of the biggest reasons why there has been such a steady improvement since the arrival of the new Indonesian coach, Mulyo Handoyo. His expertise along with Pullela Gopichand’s vast experience has instilled a lot of confidence and belief into the Indian men.

The result has been for all to see. The last three men’s singles Superseries titles have all been captured by Indians. It was B Sai Praneeth who set the ball rolling in Singapore and Srikanth Kidambi’s double glory in Indonesia and Australia became the icing on the cake.

HS Prannoy could not lay his hands on any silverware this season but has been much talked about thanks to his exploits and stunning upsets of Lee Chong Wei and Chen Long.

Thus 14 Indians in men’s singles is not a surprise at all. Of course, it is none other than Srikanth, who leads the pack and is back inside the top 8 this week. Sai Praneeth, who made it to the Australian Open quarters, is 15^th.

Ajay Jayaram is 16^th, Prannoy is 23^rd, Sameer Verma is placed at 33^rd while his elder brother Sourabh Verma is 35^th, rounding up the top 50.

Parupalli Kashyap, who is on the comeback trail after a shoulder injury, has jumped 11 places to be 60^th.

Pratul Joshi is 66^th, Subhankar Dey is 73^rd, Anand Pawar is 86^th, Abhishek Yelegar is three spots below at 89^th. Between 90 and 100, two spots are occupied by Indian shuttlers – Harsheel Dani at 94^th and Aditya Joshi at 98^th.

A special mention needs to be made of the 17-year-old Siril Verma, who has grabbed his career-best ranking of 80^th this week after winning a couple of qualifying rounds to enter the main draw of the Australian Open.