Satwik-Chirag pair achieves career-best world no. 2 ranking

FRESH from winning the Korea Open, India’s top men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy on Tuesday (25) rose to a career-best second spot in the latest BWF rankings.

Satwik and Chirag gained a place, displacing the Chinese pair of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang whom they had defeated in the Korea Open semifinals last week, to achieve a new career-high ranking in the men’s doubles circuit.

The reigning Asian champions, who won the Korea Open (Super 500), Swiss Open (Super 300) and Indonesia Open (Super 1000) titles this season, now have 87,211 points.

Playing their fourth final of the year, Satwik and Chirag had rallied from a game down to defeat the world number one pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhamad Rian Ardianto in the Korea Open last week.

The two have not lost a single final this season and are on a 10-match unbeaten streak on the BWF World Tour.

Meanwhile, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who made an early exit from the Korea Open, has managed to hold on to her 17th spot in the singles list.

London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, however, has dropped a spot to 37.

HS Prannoy continues to be India’s top-ranked shuttler, occupying the 10th spot in the men’s singles rankings, led by Denmark’s Victor Axelsen.

While Canada Open winner Lakshya Sen has slipped a place to world number 13 after missing the Korea Open, Kidambi Srikanth, who has been struggling with form, remains on 20th.

(PTI)