Kidambi Srikanth returns to the top 10 after two years
Former World number 1 Kidambi Srikanth has returned to the top 10 after a gap of two years in the latest BWF Rankings. Srikanth re-entered in the top bracket following his incredible run in the BWF World Championships, where he finished as the runner-up. Srikanth's silver medal in Huelva helped him move up four places to take the number 10 spot.
- The last time Srikanth was ranked in the top 10 was November 2019 when he finished third in the Hong Kong Open.
- In 2020, his ranking took a dip after he crashed out from R32 in four out of six BWF events he participated in.
- Injury and cancelation of a few major events in 2021 saw Srikanth miss out on the Tokyo Olympic quota.
Srikanth's started his campaign with a 21-12, 21-16 win over Spain's Pablo Abian. He defeated China's Li Shifeng 15-21, 21-18, 21-17 in R32. He met and bested another Chinese opponent in form of LU Guang Zu in R16. In the quarters, he hammered Dutch player Mark Caljouw. Srikanth defeated Sen next before losing to Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the summit clash.
Srikanth is the first male shuttler from India to win a World Championships silver. Srikanth (2018) is only the second male player (first being Prakash Padukone in 1980) and third overall (Saina Nehwal in 2015) player from India to reach the numero uno spot in the BWF Rankings. He is only Indian and fourth overall to win four Superseries finals in a calendar year.
The 20-year-old Lakshya Sen rose two places to take his career-best 17th position. Sen won the bronze medal in his maiden campaign in the just-concluded World Champions. B Sai Praneeth (18th place) slipped two places while HS Prannoy (26th place) jumped six places. Viktor Axelsen of Denmark is leading the chart with 116779 points in his kitty followed by Japan's Kento Momota.
PV Sindhu has retained her position at the seventh spot. Sindhu bowed out of the World Badminton Championships after losing to Tai Tzu Ying in straight games (17-21, 13-21). Saina Nehwal is sitting at the 25th spot. The former world number one is currently nursing multiple injuries. Despite losing to Akane Yamaguchi in the WBC final, Tai is leading the BWF Rankings.
The women's doubles pair of N Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa has returned to the top 20. The duo was beaten in the pre-quarters of WBC by Thailand's Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai. Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy have slipped one place and are now sitting at the tenth spot. They lost to Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi of Malaysia in pre-quarters.
