PV Sindhu drops to world No. 17, lowest ranking since January 2013

KUALA LUMPUR:Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who has struggled for form this season, dropped down to world No. 17 in the latest women's singles BWF rankings, released on Tuesday.

This is Sindhu's lowest ranking in over a decade. The last time she was ranked 17th in the women's singles category was in January, 2013. The 28-year old shuttler was world No. 12 in the standings last week.

Sindhu, who achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 2 back in April 2017, started the 2023 season as the world No. 7 women’s singles player but has slipped down the list after enduring a poor run of form in the few months.

Since making her comeback after a long injury lay-off following the gold medal win at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, the ace Indian has struggled to find consistency this season. Sindhu returned to action at the Malaysian Open and Indian Open this year and suffered first-round exits from both tournaments.

The Hyderabad shuttler was part of India’s bronze medal win at the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championship 2023 at Doha in February but overall, has been in poor form.

In the 11 BWF World Tour 2023 competitions she has been a part of this year, Sindhu has crashed out in the first round on five occasions and made second round exits in two more.

The highlight of her season so far was a final appearance at the Madrid Masters. She lost in the quarter-finals of the US Open last week and will be in action at the ongoing Korea Masters.

Meanwhile, Sindhu's fellow Olympic medal-winner Saina Nehwal also dropped five places to the 36th position in the women’s singles rankings. The London 2012 bronze winner has had her own struggles with injuries and form this year.

The likes of Aakarshi Kashyap (42), Malvika Bansod (45) and Ashmita Chaliha (49) are the other Indian women's singles shuttlers in the top 50.

In men's singles, HS Prannoy, who won his maiden BWF World Tour title at the Malaysia Masters in May, remained India's top-ranked player but dropped two spots to 10th. On the other hand, Lakshya Sen, who won the Canada Open earlier this month, is 12th while former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth remained static in 20th place.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty retained their world No. 3 ranking in men's doubles but the women's doubles pairing of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly slipped down a spot to 19th.

Rohan Kapoor and N Sikki Reddy, at world No. 35, are the best-ranked Indian pair in mixed doubles