Saina retains third place in rankings

Saina Nehwal. File photo: K. Murali Kumar

Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal retained her third place in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) women’s rankings released on Friday.

Saina recently lost in the final of the French Open Super Series to Japan’s Minatsu Mitani after winning the Denmark Open Super Series Premier in October.

Another Hyderabadi, P.V. Sindhu retained her 25th position on the table.

Among the men, London Olympics quarter-finalist Parupalli Kashyap and Mumbai’s Ajay Jayaram also held on to 23rd and 27th positions, respectively. Sourabh Verma, who hails from Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, dropped a place to 33.

In the men’s doubles, Kerala shuttlers K.T. Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas gained a place to be 27th.

Jwala Gutta, who is taking a sabbatical from the badminton tour currently, still figures in the women’s and mixed doubles rankings.

In women’s, Jwala and Ashwini Ponnappa are ranked 21st while in mixed doubles she is 19th with V. Diju.