MUMBAI: Kidambi Srikanth has netted a career-best ranking of World No. 2 after jumping two places in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings, released on Thursday.
Srikanth, who reached five finals and clinched four titles this year so far, now has 73,403 points, 4527 point away from World Champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, who heads the ranking list.
The 24-year-old shuttler from Guntur, who had clinched back-to- back titles at Indonesia and Australia in June this year and then at Denmark and France last week, now stands a chance to topple the Dane shuttler in the upcoming events at China and Hong Kong.
US Open Grand Prix Gold winner HS Prannoy also reached a career best ranking of number 11. Prannoy had reached the semifinals at Paris. Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth, however, dropped a place to be at the 16th spot, while Sameer Verma, who had skipped the events at Denmark and France due to fitness issues, is steady at the 18th place.
In the women’s singles category, PV Sindhu, who also reached the semifinals at France, retained her number two position, and former world number one Saina Nehwal stayed steady at the 11th spot.
Men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who entered the quarterfinals last week after beating the World No. 6 combo of Mads Pieler Kolding and Mads-Conrad-Petersen, improved four spots to be at the 28th place. The women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy slipped two places to be at the 25th spot, while mixed doubles combo of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki were steady at the 16th place.
