Kidambi Srikanth’s record fourth Superseries title of the year at the French Open has propelled him to a career-high world No 2 spot in the latest badminton men’s singles rankings released on Thursday.
This is the highest ranking for an Indian male badminton player since the official Badminton World Federation ranking was introduced. Srikanth’s highest career ranking before this was world No 3, achieved in 2015.
The career-best spot is the latest in the illustrious achievements of the 24-year-old this year, which includes four Superseries titles. Last week, he had climbed up four spots to No 4 after his Denmark Open triumph.
The top spot in the men’s rankings continued to be held by Dane Viktor Axelsen, while Korea’s Son wan Ho moved down a spot to No 3 Lin Dan and Chen Long finish the top five.
HS Prannoy, who reached the French Superseries semifinal, also moved to a career-best spot at No 11. He was ranked 12th last week. B Sai Praneeth and Ajay Jayaram moved a spot down to 16th and 22nd, while Sameer Verma stayed static at 18th.
In the women’s singles ranking, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal maintained their rankings of world No 2 and 11 respectively.
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