Ace Indian shutter P.V. Sindhu has maintained her fifth spot in the women’s singles ranking released by Badminton World Federation (BWF), while her compatriot Saina Nehwal remained at eight.
Saina will be competing at the Thailand Open after an injury lay-off had forced her to miss the Indonesia Open and Japan Open.
Sindhu, the Rio Olympic Games silver medallist, has had a roller coaster fortnight in which she finished the runner-up at the Indonesia Open and lost in the quarterfinals of the Japan Open, going down to Japanese shuttler Akane Yamaguchi on both occasions.
The Hyderabad player has withdrawn from the ongoing Thailand Open with her eyes set on the BWF World Championships that will be held from August 19 and 25.
Yamaguchi dethrones Tai Tzu Ying
Meanwhile, Yamaguchi has overtaken Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei to become the world number one following consecutive victories in Indonesia and home soil.
Tai is followed by Yamaguchi’s teammate Nozomi OKuhara at number three and China’s Chen Yufei at number four.
Momota consolidates
In men’s singles, Kento Momota consolidated his world number one position in men’s singles after the victory in Japan.
Kidambi Srikanth is at the 10th spot, followed by Sameer Verma who is at the 13th position.