PV Sindhu enters top five in BWF world ranking

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Rankings were updated on Tuesday, and Commonwealth gold medalist PV Sindhu moved up one position to into the top five.

The two-time Olympic medalist and top shuttler PV Sindhu has climbed into the top five of the women’s singles BWF World Rankings. Today saw the announcement of the rankings. Carolina Marin was replaced by Sindhu to take fifth place. According to the standings, Sindhu now has 87,218 points from 26 events. The gold medalist at the Commonwealth Games reached a career-high global No. 2 ranking in 2017–18 but hasn’t cracked the top five since September 2019.

At the CWG 2022 earlier this year, Sindhu won the gold medal, but she hasn’t competed since because of an ankle ailment.

After healing from the injury, she started working out again on Monday. She is anticipated to be back on the court in December, in time for the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals in Guangzhou, China.

Saina Nehwal, who won bronze at the Olympics in London in 2012, fell one spot in the rankings and is now placed 33rd in the world.

The senior player, who is now the only female Indian player to hold the No. 1 position, has had recent form issues.

Lakshya Sen, the highest-ranked player from India in the men’s singles division, maintained his career-best eighth place in the rankings, which he gained earlier this month. Kidambi Srikanth, a fellow countryman and former world No. 1, remained in 11th place as well.

On the other side, the in-form H.S. Prannoy, who only recently rose to the top spot in the BWF World Tour 2022 Rankings, continues his ascent and is currently ranked 12th after moving up one point.

Men’s doubles duo MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, who moved up two spots to 19th and into the top 20 for the first time as a team, were among the other Indians to advance on the list.

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, a female doubles team, rose four spots to rank 27th, while Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto, a mixed doubles team, rose two spots to rank 29th, both setting new career highs.

Only three positions separate Treesa and Gayatri from Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy, the top-ranked women’s doubles duo from India, who are now ranked 24th.

After holding onto their eighth place, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy continued to be India’s best men’s doubles team.