BWF World Rankings: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty climb back to No. 1 spot
India's premier men's doubles shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have reclaimed the top spot in the latest world rankings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Tuesday, January 23.
This comes on the back of a superb showing over the past two weeks that saw the Indian pair finish as the runners-up at the Malaysia Open (Super 1000) and the India Open (Super 750).
While they lost the Malaysia Open final to the-then World No. 1s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, the duo went down against world champions Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Sang Jae in New Delhi.
Rankireddy and Shetty had first risen to the pinnacle of the world rankings in September last year following their gold medal win at the Asian Games.
In men's singles, HS Prannoy rose a solitary spot to No. 8 after reaching the semifinals at last week's India Open. He was India's best-performing shuttler in singles at the event.
Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth, both of whom crashed out in the first round, stayed put at 19th and 25th, respectively. Priyanshu Rajawat, who was Sen's conqueror, also maintains his 30th ranking.
Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu, who continues to recover from a knee injury, remains 11th.
In women's doubles, Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa are 20th, with Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand following them a couple of rungs later.
In mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Sikki Reddy are India's highest-ranked duo at 41st.
Indian shuttlers next in action at Indonesia Masters
The Indian contingent will next be in action at this week's Indonesia Masters, a Super 500 event that will be held in Jakarta from January 23-28.
HS Prannoy is seeded seventh in men's singles, with Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, Priyanshu Rajawat, and Kiran George in the mix.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have opted out of this tournament.