Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty rise to World No. 1 ranking
India's premier men's doubles shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have created history by becoming the first pair from the country to climb to the No. 1 spot in the world rankings. The young duo achieved the feat in the latest world rankings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Tuesday, October 10.
The accomplishment comes on the back of a stellar outing at the recently concluded Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, where the duo were crowned the champions. They have also clinched four other titles this season at the Badminton Asia Championships, the Indonesia Open, the Swiss Open, and the Korea Open.
Following their back-to-back wins at the Indonesia Open and the Korea Open in June-July, the duo climbed to their best-ever ranking of No. 2, which they have now outshone. Rankireddy and Shetty have jumped a couple of spots following their Hangzhou heroics to take the numero uno spot with 92411 ranking points.
HS Prannoy drops to 8th despite Asiad bronze
Meanwhile, HS Prannoy, who won the men's singles bronze medal, slid a spot to eighth in the latest rankings. Lakshya Sen, too, slipped a solitary rung to 15th.
Kidambi Srikanth, on the other hand, jumped one spot to 20th. All three were part of India's silver medal-winning men's team at the Asian Games 2023.
In women's singles, PV Sindhu surged a couple of spots to 13th in the new rankings in spite of crashing out of the women's singles event in the quarter-finals at the continental event.
Saina Nehwal, who has been out of action for some time, stays put at 55th.
In women's doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand soared a single position to be ranked 16th. In mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Sikki Reddy remain static at 38th.
The top Indian shuttlers, including PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth, will next be seen in action at the Super 500 Arctic Open that gets underway on October 10 in Vantaa, Finland.