Star Indian shuttlers HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen have gained places in the latest BWF World Rankings. Both Prannoy and Lakshya reached the semifinals of the Japan Open Super 750 badminton tournament and that helped their cause as Prannoy has jumped to World No.9 while Lakshya has gained two places to be the World No. 11th.
However, both the shuttlers lost their respective semifinals clash in the Japan Open. While Pranoy lost his match against Viktor Axelsen, Lakshya went down fighting against Jonatan Christie.
Prannoy has now shifted his sights on the Australian Open and has cleared the first round against Lee Cheuk Yiu after a tough fight. The Indian held his nerve in a tough three-game battle. He ultimately won 21-18, 16-21, 21-15 to progress to the next round.
On the other hand, former World No. 1 shuttler Kidambi Srikanth went up the ranks to be placed at 19th in the world right now. While national champion Mithun Manjunath has entered the top top 50 rankings. He has gained four places to be the 50th-ranked shuttler in the world.
PV Sindhu, who is struggling with her form has fortunately stayed in the 17th position. She will be keen to get some wins under her belt to gain confidence and also move up in the rankings ahead of the Olympics next year.
Sindhu won her first round clash in the Australian Open which was against compatriot Ashmita Chaliha. After first-round exits from Japan and Korea Open, Sindhu desperately needed to get a win and she did a decent job against a fellow India. Sindhu won the match 21-18, 21-13 to progress to the next round where she will play another Indian in Aakarshi Kashyap.
In men’s doubles Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty may have pulled out of the
Australian Open but they remain in second position in the BWF Rankings. While the Indian women’s doubles duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand have improved two places and are now placed 17th in the world rankings.
The women’s duo have had a positive start to their Australian Open campaign. They defeated Canada’s Josephine Wu and Catherine Choi by a scoreline of 21-16, 21-17. Gayatri and Treesa will face tougher opponents in the second round in Japan’s Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara, who are ranked fourth in the world.
Ashwini Ponnappa and her partner Tanisha Crasto crashed out after losing their women’s doubles opener against world No. 18 pair of Febriana Kusuma and Aallania Pratiwi of Indonesia 11-21, 21-14, 17-21.
