BWF rankings: Satwik-Chirag reclaim world no. 1 rank

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty retrieved the top spot on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings on Tuesday after their Thailand Open Super 500 title-winning display in Bangkok, Thailand last week.

The Indian duo, who were in the third position before the start of the Thailand Open, toppled Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang of China to regain their position in the world ranking.

Satwik and Chirag now have 99,670 points.

However, the gap between the Indian and Chinese pairing remains narrow, with Laing and Wang trailing their Indian counterparts by just 52 points.

In the third place, South Korea's Min Hyuk Kang and Seung Jae Seo have 98,015 points.

On Sunday, Satwik and Chirag won their second World Tour title of the year, winning all their matches in straight games. In the final, they beat China's Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi 21-15, 21-15 in 46 minutes to claim their second Thailand Open men's doubles crown.

Such was the Indian combo's domination in the event that they did not spend more than 35 minutes on average on the court in each match.

This season, Satwik and Chirag have been in phenomenal form. In March, they won the French Open Super 750 for the second time since 2022. This title also marked an end to their final jinx.

Since China Masters in November last year, Satwik and Chirag lost three finals before ending the title drought in Paris.

Satwik and Chirag first rose to the top of the world rankings on October 10 last year following their epoch-making Asian Games gold medal-winning performance in Hangzhou, China.

They, however, were toppled from the position after just three weeks when China's Liang and Wang rose to the top spot on October 31 before reclaiming the numero uno position in January this year following their runner-up finishes at the Malaysia Open Super 1000 and India Open Super 750.

But pre-quarterfinal exit in the All England Open and missing out on the chance to play in the Badminton Asia Championships due to Satwik's injury meant the pair went down the pecking order.

This win in the Thailand Open will further cement their position on top of the world.

Prannoy highest ranked Indian

Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen dropped three places to 14th as he has been out of action since the Thomas Cup in April. HS Prannoy retains his spot at the ninth spot as the highest-ranked Indian men's singles player.

In women's singles, PV Sindhu dropped one place to be ranked 15th. Sindhu will be in action at the Malaysia Masters this week.

In women's doubles, Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, who reached the semifinals of the Thailand Open last week, rose two spots to world no. 19.

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand are standing ten places below at the 29th spot.