Asian Games gold medallists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty returned to the top 10 in the BWF men’s doubles World Rankings released on Tuesday, climbing three spots following their semi-final finish at the China Open last week.
Other Indian players also saw improvements in their rankings across categories on Tuesday.
The duo had previously held the world number 1 ranking after winning the Thailand Open last year.
The former world number 1 pair’s journey at the China Open ended in the semifinals, where they lost to Malaysian duo Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik 13-21, 17-21.
This was their third semi-final appearance on the BWF Tour this season, having earlier reached the last four at the Singapore Open and India Open.
In men’s singles, Lakshya Sen improved his position by two places to reach number 17 with 54,442 points, just ahead of China’s Zhenxiang Wang. HS Prannoy also made progress, moving up two spots to world number 33 with 40,336 points.
Young talent Unnati Hooda achieved a career-best ranking of 31 in women’s singles, climbing four spots after her impressive victory over PV Sindhu in the pre-quarterfinals. The 17-year-old defeated Sindhu 21-16, 19-21, 21-13 in a match lasting one hour and 13 minutes, before losing to Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in the quarterfinals.
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PV Sindhu maintained her position as the highest-ranked Indian in women’s singles at number 15.
In women’s doubles, the top Indian pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand remained at number 11, while Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa advanced two positions to reach number 45.
