HS Prannoy and Saina Nehwal, India’s two medallists at the Badminton Asia Championships, profited on Thursday when the badminton world rankings were updated. Nehwal returned to the top-10 following her semi-final finish in Wuhan, which got her a bronze medal. Prannoy, who also won the bronze, achieved a career-best ranking of eighth in the world.
Nehwal has been in a rich vein of form, clinching gold in the Commonwealth Games after defeating her compatriot PV Sindhu in the final. However, Tai Tzu Ying, who returned to the top of the women’s singles rankings, once again got the better of Nehwal, defeating her for the ninth time in a row. Prannoy was denied of a spot in the final by Olympic champion Chen Long.
Kidambi Srikanth, who, less than a month ago surged to the top of the rankings for the first time, is currently third in the table with 74,135 points.
South Korea’s Son Wan Ho has a slender lead over Srikanth at second place with 74,670 points. Reigning world champion Viktor Axelsen continues to sit pretty at the top of the top of the pile.
Sindhu, who crashed out of the quarter-finals of the BAC to Sung Ji Hyun has consolidated her third spot in the rankings table.