Parupalli Kashyap remains 8th; HS Prannoy jumps 12 spots to be ranked 68th in latest BWF rankings

India’s upcoming shuttler HS Prannoy leaped twelve spots to be placed 68th in the latest World Badminton Federation (WBF) rankings.

The significant jump in world rankings is hardly a surprise given the fact that the Kerala youngster enjoyed a giant-killing run at the recent Polish Open in Warsaw, where he entered the men’s singles semifinals and lost to the eventual champion Vladimir Malkov of Russia, ranked 63rd in the world.

Earlier in the tournament, Prannoy shocked fifth seed and world number 71, Emil Holst of Denmark in the second round before going on to rack the biggest win of the tournament, upstaging second seed and world number 66, Pablo Abian of Spain in a gripping quarterfinal match.

FILE PHOTO: Parupalli Kashyap

Among the other Indian men’s singles players, Parupalli Kashyap clung on to his last week’s world number seven ranking. The likes of Ajay Jayaram, RMV Gurusai Dutt and Sourabh Varma retained their last week’s ranking of 30, 36 and 38 respectively.

The same was the case with Anand Pawar and B Sai Praneeth – they neither advanced nor slipped and were perched at 44th and 54th spot respectively. However, K Srikanth fell one spot to be ranked 63rd.

Old war horse Chetan Anand is placed at 99th, while Arvind Bhat and Anup Sridhar were placed 100th and 108th respectively.

Meanwhile, in the women’s section, Saina Nehwal managed to hold on to her world number two ranking and the same was the case with PV Sindhu, who occupies the number sixteen spot.

However, there were substantial gains made by Arundhati Pantwane after her semifinal finish at the recent Polish Open.

She had upset fourth seed and world number 58, Nicole Schaller of Switzerland in the second round. Arundhati moved eight spots to take the 91st position.

Another Indian women’s shuttler, PC Thulasi, who had a decent run at the recent Polish Open, making it to the women’ singles semifinals, climbed two spots to occupy the 98th position.

She is closely followed by Tanvi Lad at 99th position. Tanvi also had a good run at the Polish Open, reaching the quarterfinals before she was shown the championship exit door by PC Thulasi.

Tanvi jumped ten spots this week.

Sayali Gokhale was another women shuttler to make rapid strides in the world rankings. Sayali, who was placed 145th last week, leaped 24 spots to be ranked 121.

Neha Pandit, who until not long ago was hovering in the top-100, moved up one slot to be ranked 146th.