B Sai Praneeth and Sameer Verma improved a rung each to reach the 16th and 25th spots respectively in the latest Badminton World Federation rankings, released on Friday. Ajay Jayaram, who skipped the ongoing Korea Open, slipped a place to be at 17th. Kidambi Srikanth remains the best placed among Indian men at eighth spot while HS Prannoy remained unmoved at the 18th position, PTI reported.
In the women’s category, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal remained at fourth and 12th positions respectively. Women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy slipped a place to be at the 25th spot. However, India’s mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki were steady at the 20th position. No Indian pair men’s doubles pair found a place inside the top 25.
When the rankings were released earlier in the month, Nehwal, who won a bronze at the World Championship, jumped four rungs while Srikanth also improved two positions. A former world No 1, Saina had slipped to the 16th spot but a good showing at Glasgow helped her inch closer to the top-10 again in women’s singles. Prannoy, who had won the US Open Grand Prix Gold in July, slipped three places.