HS Prannoy was ranked ninth ahead of the BWF World Championships 2023 held in Copenhagen, Denmark. However, wins over world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen and world No. 9 Loh Kean Yew en route to the semi-finals helped the Indian shuttler claim a historic medal.
Prannoy’s previous career-best rank was seventh, achieved this May.
Earlier this year, he won the Malaysia Masters Super 500 to claim his first-ever BWF World Tour title. The Indian badminton player also made it to the final of Australian Open Super 500 event in August.
The 31-year-old Prannoy is currently the only Indian singles player ranked inside the top 10.
Among the other Indian men’s singles players, Lakshya Sen dropped one spot to 12th, while former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth remained static at 20th. While Priyanshu Rajawat retained his 28th position, Mithun Manjunath rose two places to 41st.
In the women’s singles, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu moved up one spot to 14th despite suffering an early exit at the BWF World Championships 2023.
The former world champion Sindhu has witnessed a considerable drop in the rankings this season. The 28-year-old fell to world No. 15, her worst ranking in over a decade.
On the other hand, former world No. 1 Saina Nehwal was ranked 51st in the latest rankings. The London 2012 Olympics bronze medallist participated in only six BWF Tour events this season. This was the first time that Nehwal has dropped out of the top 50 in over a decade.
Among other Indian badminton players in women’s singles, Aakarshi Kashyap rose one spot to 38th while Malvika Bansod remained 44th.
In the men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty retained their world No. 2 ranking after bowing out in the quarter-finals of the world championships.
Meanwhile, the women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand moved up two spots to 17th in the rankings. Rohan Kapoor and N Sikki Reddy remained India’s best-ranked mixed doubles pair at 32nd.
