PV Sindhu slumps to World no. 17 in latest BWF rankings, lowest in over a decade

Indian badminton star PV Sindhu has experienced a significant drop in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) Rankings, falling five places to reach world number 17.

This marks her lowest ranking in more than ten years. Sindhu, a former world number 2, faced a stress fracture on her ankle during her title-winning campaign at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, which led to a challenging season with no titles. She currently holds 49,480 points from 14 tournaments.

Since her return from a five-month-long injury layoff, Sindhu has struggled to regain her momentum, resulting in a series of underwhelming performances this season. As the Olympic qualification cycle is ongoing, Sindhu will need to turn her fortunes around soon. The upcoming Korea Open presents an opportunity for her to improve her ranking, with 16th-ranked Supanida Katethong just nine points ahead.

Sindhu's current ranking of 17th is the same as her position in January 2013. Prior to this, she had maintained a spot within the top 10 since 2016, reaching a career-high ranking of number 2 in April of that year.

Having not secured a title this season, Sindhu faces pressure to build a winning streak for her Olympic qualification bid. Her best performance this year was a runner-up finish in the Madrid Spain Masters. In contrast, Saina Nehwal, another Indian badminton stalwart, also experienced a dip in her ranking, falling five places to world number 36 after a disappointing first-round exit in the Singapore Open.

Among the men's singles players, HS Prannoy slipped one place to 10th after reaching the quarterfinals of the Taipei Open. Lakshya Sen maintained his spot at 12th, while Kidambi Srikanth remains steady at 12th as well.

In men's doubles, the Indian duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty retained their third rank. However, MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila dropped one place to 27th after a first-round exit in the Indonesia Open. In women's doubles, the pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand dropped one spot to 19th following their first-round loss in the Indonesia Open.