BWF Rankings: Srikanth Kidambi drops two spots to fifth

Former World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei’s triumph at the Hong Kong Open pushed Srikanth KIdambi down the ladder as the latest world rankings were released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Thursday, November 30, 2017. The Malaysian legend made a jump of three spots from sixth, thus usurping Srikanth from the third position.

The Indian is currently fifth, which is three places away from his career-best ranking of second that he achieved after his French Open title win in October. The Guntur-born ace was also in contention for the World No. 1 ranking but he chose rest over participation at the China Open and the Hong Kong Open, which resulted in the ranking slide.

Among the others, HS Prannoy and Sai Praneeth are unchanged at 10th and 17th respectively. Not playing at the Hong Kong Open proved costly for last year’s runner-up, Sameer Verma. The 23-year-old plunged 10 places to 30th.

Ajay Jayaram, who continues to recover from a hamstring injury, is 39th. Parupalli Kashyap rose four places to 43rd. Sourabh Verma, who is the top seed at the Tata Open this week, is 49th.

Subhankar Dey, who reached the quarter-finals of the Scottish Open, is now at a career-high 64th. Abhishek Yelegar too climbed to a career-best 76th.

The India International Series victory rewarded the young Lakshya Sen with a jump of two spots to 108th.

Sindhu, Saina unchanged in rankings

The top women’s shuttlers of the country -- PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal -- saw no change in their rankings. Hong Kong Open runner-up Sindhu continues to be second and Nehwal is still 10th.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty opted out of last week’s Hong Kong Open ahead of the defence of their Tata Open title this week. The move did not backfire as they maintain their 27th ranking.

National champions Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy too remain static at 32nd.

In women’s doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy are 25th. The India No. 1 mixed doubles pair of Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra dropped three places to 19th. The pair could not play at the season’s final Superseries event as Chopra sustained a leg injury during the Senior National Championships.

National mixed doubles champions Ponnappa and Rankireddy have surged four spots to a career-best 74th.