Kidambi Srikanth achieved a career-high ranking of number two in the BWF rankings released on Thursday, climbing two places to displace Korea's Son Wan Ho from the second spot. Additionally, HS Prannoy too achieved a career-best ranking of number 11 as he climbed up one spot from last week's rankings.
Reigning World champion Viktor Axelsen continued to lead the world rankings with 77930 points. Srikanth, at 73403, is expected to next take part in the China Open Superseries, to be held in two weeks, with a chance to overtake the Dane. Incidentally, it was at the China Open in 2014 that Srikanth had won his first Superseries title. Going into the tournament unseeded, he had stunned then World No. 1 Lin Dan to win his maiden title.
Starting the year with an injury layoff and a few early exits, Srikanth bounced back during the Singapore Open in April where he finished runners-up after getting defeated by compatriot B Sai Praneeth in the final. Often criticised for being over-reliant on smashes, Srikanth worked on his defensive skills and overall versatility to go on to win four tournaments thereafter -- the most by a men's singles player this year -- at the Indonesia Open, Australian Open, Denmark Open and French Open.
Prannoy, on the other hand, went on to reach the semi-finals in France and Indonesia -- defeating biggies like Lee Chong Wei and Chen Long -- during the course of those tournaments.
Career high!! World no 11�� pic.twitter.com/OLuAJ4qts4
- PRANNOY HS (@PRANNOYHSPRI) November 2, 2017
Among other Indians, Praneeth (16), Sameer Verma (18) and Ajay Jayaram (22) continued to be a part of the top 25. In the women's singles, PV Sindhu (2) and Saina Nehwal's (11) positions remained unchanged.