Badminton
Satwik-Chirag reclaims world no. 1 ranking, dethroning China's Liang-Wang
Satwik-Chirag rose to the world no. 1 ranking following their consecutive runner-up finishes at the Malaysia Open and India Open. Prannoy also rose a place to be ranked 8th in the latest BWF World Rankings.
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (Source: BAI)
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty reclaimed the world no. 1 ranking from Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang of China on Tuesday as the Badminton World Federation (BWF) updated its latest world rankings.
Satwik and Chirag first claimed the top spot on October 10 last year following their historic gold medal-winning performance at the Asian Games. The duo became the first Indian shuttlers to win the yellow metal at the Asian Games.
They, however, were toppled from the position after just three weeks when China's Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang rose to the top spot on October 31.
As Satwik-Chirag failed to imitate their Asian Games form at the French Open and gave a walkover at the Denmark Open, they slipped to the third position before rising a place following their runner-up finish at the China Masters, where they lost to then world no. 1 Laing and Wang.
While the last season saw Satwik-Chirag scripting many firsts for Indian badminton winning titles like Badminton Asia Championships, Asian Games and Indonesia Open Super 1000 titles, their early exits at the India Open, All England Open, Madrid Spain Masters, Thailand Open and Korea Open also forced them to miss the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals, an exclusive tournament for elite shuttlers ranked in top 8 of world rankings.
However, starting the new season in 2024, the Indian pair showed remarkable consistency by reaching back-to-back finals at the Malaysia Open Super 1000 and India Open Super 1000. Even though they lost both the finals, it did not deter their rise to the top in the world rankings again.
In the semifinals at the India Open when Satwik and Chirag defeated Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia for the third time in a row in straight games, they were assured of the numero uno rank again.
The Indian pair also decided to play only selective tournaments to keep themselves fresh and injury-free in an Olympic year, also featuring the Asian Team Championships and Thomas Cup.
HS Prannoy, meanwhile, rose a place to be ranked eighth following his semifinal finish at the India Open.
Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto are ranked at the 20th spot as India's highest ranked women's doubles pair, pushing Treesa Jolly and Gyatari Gopichand behind at the 22th spot.
