BWF Rankings: Kidambi Srikanth rises to 7th, Sai Praneeth climbs four places

Indian badminton ace Kidambi Srikanth’s best ever performance at last week’s All England Open propelled a rise of a solitary rung to seventh in the world rankings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) this week. Srikanth made it to the quarter-finals of the world’s oldest tournament for the first time in his career, riding on his wins over the 2018 Asian Games gold medallist Jonatan Christie and French veteran Brice Leverdez.

However, his challenge was ended by none other than the top seed and World No. 1 Kento Momota who later went on to win the title.

The other big mover among the top Indian shuttlers this week was former Singapore Open champion B. Sai Praneeth, who jumped four places to 22nd. It was the reward for winning one round at this prestigious Super 1000 tournament.

While Sameer Verma stayed put at 14th, HS Prannoy plummeted five spots to 24th after a first round exit to compatriot Sai.

Subhankar Dey rose to 47th and Parupalli Kashyap is now 50th. Sourabh Verma and Ajay Jayaram surged a couple of spots each to 54th and 55th respectively.

No change for Saina and Sindhu

There was no change for the shuttle queens, Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu. The latter’s first round departure did little to affect her World No. 6 spot and Saina remains at No. 9 after reaching the quarter-finals.

Former national champion Rituparna Das is now 54th after a rise of two spots while Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka is 63rd.

In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who haven’t played together this season, have dropped four places to 24th. Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy remain static at No. 26.

The Commonwealth Games bronze medal-winning women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy soared to No. 23 this week. In mixed doubles, Ponnappa and Rankireddy are now 24th while the pair of Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra plunged to 35th.