New Delhi, March 13 (IANS): A quarterfinal exit at the All England Open Badminton Championships last week has led India’s leading shuttler Saina Nehwal dropping a place to No. 8 in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) women’s singles rankings released Thursday.
Saina is now only a spot ahead of World No. 9 P.V. Sindhu, who despite her first round exit last week, still retained the position.
Meanwhile, Kidambi Srikanth is now India’s highest ranked men’s singles shuttler at No. 20 as Parupalli Kashyap dropped seven places to No. 25.
Kashyap’s shoulder injury has resulted in a recent dip of form, leading to his exit in the early rounds of several competitions since December.
Mumbai’s Ajay Jayaram, however, gained a place to No. 24 and is ranked just above Kashyap. This is the first time since the 2012 London Olympics that Kashyap is not ranked as India’s top male shuttler and has fallen behind Jayaram.
No Indian figures in the top-25 of the doubles – men’s, women’s and mixed.