KUALA LUMPUR: The Indian badminton player PV Sindhu’s slide down the BWF rankings continues as she dropped five places to world No 17 in the latest women’s singles standings released on Tuesday.
This season, Sindhu’s winning streaks have lacked a championship since she has found it difficult to accumulate several victories in a row.
Sindhu, a former world No 2, has 49,480 points in 14 competitions after suffering a stress fracture on her ankle during her title-winning run at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
In the women’s singles badminton rankings, PV Sindhu last fell outside the top 14 players in April 2013. In April 2017, the former world champion attained her career-high position of No 2 in the world.
The double Olympic medallist Sindhu, who won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022, has been battling with her form this season after returning from a protracted injury layoff.
This year, PV Sindhu made a comeback and competed in the Malaysian Open and Indian Open, although she was eliminated in the first round of each competition.
The shuttler from Hyderabad participated in India’s bronze medal-winning squad at the 2023 Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championship in Doha in February, although she has generally struggled on the BWF World Tour.
Saina Nehwal slumped five places to world number 36 in the women’s singles, followed by Aakarshi Kashyap (42), Ashmita Chaliha (49) and Malvika Bansod (45).
In men’s singles, HS Prannoy, who won his maiden BWF World Tour title at the Malaysia Masters in May, is still India’s top-ranked player after retaining world No 10.
Former world No 1 Kidambi Srikanth finds himself in the 20th place just after Commonwealth Games 2022 men’s singles champion Lakshya Sen who is at 12th position. (ANI)