HS Prannoy climbs 3 spots to career-high No. 6 in latest BWF world rankings
HS Prannoy's heroics at the recently concluded BWF World Championships 2023 have resulted in the Indian shuttler climbing three spots to a career-high No. 6 in the latest world rankings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on August 29. He now has 72437 points in his kitty and continues to be the only Indian singles badminton star ranked in the top 10.
Prannoy was a revelation at the mega event that was held last week in Copenhagen. The Keralite won four matches before losing to eventual champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in three games in the semi-finals, handing him a bronze medal. It was Prannoy's first-ever medal from the BWF World Championships and India's 14th overall.
The 31-year-old notched up wins over two former world champions, Viktor Axelsen and Loh Kean Yew, on his way to the last four. Considering Axelsen was the reigning Olympic champion and the defending champion at the BWF World Championships as well as the World No. 1 and the home favorite, the victory over the Dane was indeed a monumental feat for HS Pronnoy.
Prannoy has had a productive season so far. The other two highlights of his year are a title win at the Malaysia Masters and a runner-up finish at the Australian Open.
Apart from Prannoy, Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth are the other two Indians in the top 20 of the men's singles rankings. They are ranked 12th and 20th, respectively.
PV Sindhu moves up to 14th in latest BWF World Rankings
PV Sindhu, who crashed out in the first round of the BWF World Championships 2023 after losing to Nozomi Okuhara, rose a rung to 14th in the latest rankings. It was the two-time Olympic medalist's eighth first-round exit of what has been a poor campaign this year.
Men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who exited the World Championships in the quarter-finals, held on to their second ranking.
In women's doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, jumped a couple of positions to 17th.
In mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Sikki Reddy surged a solitary spot to 32nd.