K Srikanth’s reign as the world No 1 men’s singles badminton player lasted just a week, as the Indian slipped four places in the latest rankings released by the Badminton World Federation.
Srikanth, who won the men’s singles silver medal in the recently-concluded Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast, became the first Indian male badminton player (since computerised ranking was introduced) to reach the pinnacle last Thursday.
But based on the fact that the BWF system considers the best 10 tournaments of the players over the past 52 weeks, Srikanth lost the points he had earned en route to the final of the Singapore Superseries this time last year. Srikanth had lost the final to compatriot and training partner B Sai Praneeth, who also lost the points he earned by winning the title, and slipped four spots to 19th.
Srikanth, despite his impressive showing at Gold Coast, did not have ranking points to defend as the Commonwealth Games do not count towards to the total.
HS Prannoy, meanwhile, climbed one spot from 11th to re-enter the top 10.
In the women’s singles category, PV Sindhu held on to her third rank, while Saina Nehwal, who defeated the former in the final of the CWG, also remained at her previous position of world No 12. There was a significant change at the top of the pile, however, as Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi and Taiwan’s Tai Tzu Ying swapped places, meaning Yamaguchi became world No 1 for the first time in her career. The Japanese shuttler was ranked No 2 behind Tai Tzu Ying for the past five months, starting November 2017.
Among the doubles categories, there was good news for the up-and-coming pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who re-entered the top 20 and reached a career-high position of 18th. Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy rose one spot to reach No 25 in the women’s doubles rankings, while Sikki and Pranaav Jerry Chopra climbed three spots to reach No 22 in the mixed doubles category.
