HS Prannoy regains career-best spot, Sindhu drops one place

NEW DELHI: India's badminton star HS Prannoy has been rewarded for his brilliant run of play in 2022 as he regained his career-high ranking of world number eight on Tuesday.

Prannoy has been in a rich vein of form in 2022, having played a pivotal role in India's maiden Thomas Cup title. The shuttler was also the only Indian to feature in the BWF World Tour finals where he finished with a victory over World No 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in his third and final Group A men's singles match.

The Badminton Association of India shared a tweet to confirm the news, "The Beast on his career-high rank. Congratulations @PRANNOYHSPRI." The shuttler was honoured with the Arjuna Award by the government of India in the month of November. Prannoy also became the World's Number one player in the men's singles category in the BWF World Tour Rankings.

In the rankings updated on September 6, Prannoy emerged as the number one shuttler in tour rankings.

The 30-year-old achieved his best ranking in four years after he climbed two spots to achieve world number 16 status in the updated BWF World Rankings earlier in September.

Lakshya Sen remains the top-ranked Indian in the men's singles category. The shuttler is ranked seventh on the list. Experienced shuttler Kidambi Srikanth has dropped down one position to be ranked 12th in the men's singles category.

Viktor Axelsen of Denmark holds the top spot in men's singles rankings, Malaysian Lee Zii Jia is ranked second while Loh Kean Yew from Singapore occupies the third spot. India's men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have maintained the fifth spot in the BWF rankings.

PV Sindhu has slipped down one position to be ranked seventh in the women's singles category. The shuttler has been out of action after suffering an ankle injury.