BWF world rankings scenario: How Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty can become World no. 1

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat world no. 1 Indonesian pair Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Arian Ardianto in the men's doubles final to clinch the Korea Open Super 500 badminton title on Sunday.

In the title clash, Satwik-Chirag came from behind against the All England Open champions, Alfian and Ardianto, to win 17-21, 21-13, 21-14 in one hour and two minutes.

In the semifinals, Satwik-Chirag, ranked 3rd in the BWF world rankings, defeated world no. 2 Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang from China in straight games.

On the back of two consecutive wins against higher-ranked pairings, the Indian shuttlers are now poised to replace Wei Keng and Wang Chang as the new world no. 2 in the world rankings. The latest BWF rankings will be released on Tuesday.

Satwik and Chirag could soon attain the numero uno position on the BWF world rankings, replacing Alfian and Ardianto, if they win the Japan Open Super 750 and the Indonesian pair, the current holder of the position, loses in or before the semifinals.

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The Indian shuttlers have not lost a single final this year. On the World Tour, they won three titles - the Swiss Open Super 300 in March, Indonesia Open Super 1000 in June, and Korea Open Super 500 in July. Satwik-Chirag won the Asian Championships title, a non-BWF event, in May, becoming the first Indian pair to achieve the feat.

The win in the Korea Open final is the Indian pair’s eighth consecutive victory in the event finale. The last time they lost a final was in 2019 when they finished as the runners-up at the French Open. Satwik-Chirag, since then, has been invincible in the final, with them winning next the India Open before making an amend to their runners-up finish at the French Open, then the Thomas Cup team title and the Commonwealth Games gold in 2022. In 2023, far and away their best season so far, they have already won three World Tour titles to extend their record to eight with a promise to take the tally forward.

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The Indians are now also on a ten-match winning streak, a trend that they started at the Indonesia Open, their maiden Super 1000 title - the biggest laurel on the World Tour, they carried forward that momentum in the Korea Open, by winning all five of their matches, four of them in straight games.

BWF world ranking overview

Ranking points are calculated based on the tournaments each player and pairs participate in during the 12-month cycle from January to December. If a player or pair has participated in ten or fewer BWF World Tour level tournaments, then the ranking is worked out by adding together the points won at tournaments in the last 52 weeks. If a player or pair has participated in 11 or more World Tour events, only the ten highest points scored in the tournaments during the 52 weeks will be counted towards their rankings.

Point System

BWF men doubles rankings scenario:

World no. 1 pair Alfian and Ardianto will have 91629 ranking points to their credit after their runner-up finish at the Korea Open. They are followed by Satwik-Chirag, who will gain 4,880 points for winning the Korea Open and go up a place in the rankings to be ranked world no. 2 with an overall points tally of 87211.

This week's Japan Open Super 750 is a Grade 2 BWF World Tour event. In the draw, Satwik-Chirag and Alfian-Ardianto are in the same quarter of the draw with a semifinal clash on cards. Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang is in the opposite half of the draw and will not meet before the final. The Chinese pair is the defending champion. But even if they manage to defend their Japan Open title, they will not be able to reclaim the no. 2 ranking from the Indian pair.

So analysing the current ranking scenario it is evident that if Indonesian pair Alfian-Ardianto loses in or before the semifinals (91629 Points), Satwik-Chirag needs to at least reach the final (91761points) to become the new world no. 1. If Indonesian pair makes it to semifinal (92729 points) then the Indians not only need to defeat them in the last-four clash but also need to become champion (93411points) of Japan Open to attain the number one rank.