A confidence-boosting show at the Japan Open Superseries has seen the India No. 1 men’s singles shuttler Kidambi Srikanth claiming his place back in the top 10 of the latest BWF World Rankings released on Thursday. The 23-year-old reached the quarter-finals of the Japan Open Superseries last week which helped him make a jump of five places from 14th to shoot up to the ninth spot.
Srikanth, who bowed out in the first round of the Korea Open Superseries this week, has been ranked as high as No. 3 in August last year.
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The Pullela Gopichand ward now remains the only Indian in the top 25 of the men’s singles rankings this week. Ajay Jayaram, who is into the Korea Open quarter-finals, made a nosedive of nine places to be ranked 27th.
The 29-year-old was bothered by an ankle injury that forced him to retire after playing just one game against Srikanth in their second round encounter. According to BWF rules, with both the players being from the same member association, Jayaram’s retirement effected in him getting all his points null and void, resulting in his ranking slide.
HS Prannoy and B Sai Praneeth, meanwhile, remain static at the 31st and 36th positions respectively. Prannoy had won a round in Tokyo before bowing out to the second seed Viktor Axelsen in the second round.
Saina, Sindhu also rise
In women’s singles, Saina Nehwal made a jump of three spots to climb up to 5th while Rio Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu too rose two spots to be eighth. Nehwal is currently in the middle of her recovery from knee surgery while Sindhu is expected to be back at the Denmark Open Superseries Premier in October.
The rise in the rankings of both the Indian stars was possible because of the immediate withdrawal of the names of Chinese greats Wang Yihan and Wang Shixian, both of whom had announced their retirements.
The rankings of India’s top doubles stars, who are currently out of action, remain unchanged. Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy are still at 21st while Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar continue to be 29th. In women’s doubles, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa maintain their 24th spot.
