Badminton: Unnati Hooda breaks into top-20 women's singles rankings for first time

India's Unnati Hooda broke into the top-20 of the BWF women's singles world rankings for the first time in her career on Tuesday.

Hooda gained three places in the latest rankings released on 5 May, 2026 and is now placed at world No 19.

The youngster gained 5,240 points from the recently concluded 2026 Uber Cup and now has 51,080 points to show for in 16 tournaments.

Hooda had featured in two ties for India during their forgettable 2026 Uber Cup campaign, registering a win and a loss.

She is only the third Indian women's singles shuttler to climb into top-20 of BWF women's singles badminton rankings, which was introduced in 2009, after Olympic medallists Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu.

Earlier records show Aparna Popat being ranked world No 17 in November 1999.

Sindhu, who also featured in the 2026 Uber Cup, retained her at world No 12 with 55,671 points in the latest rankings.

This is the first time in nearly four years that India have two shuttlers ranked inside top-20 of the world in women's singles.

The last time two Indians were placed in top-20 of women's singles was in October 2021, when Nehwal was ranked world No 19 and Sindhu was placed at world No 7. 

Elsewhere in men's singles, India's Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty retained their spots at world No 11 and world No 18 respectively after India's bronze medal winning run at the 2026 Thomas Cup last week.

Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy both jumped a place each and are now ranked world No 29 and world No 34 respectively.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, meanwhile, held on to their world No 4 spot and continue to be the highest ranked Indians in BWF world rankings.