Early exits at the Japan Open and Denmark Open proved costly for ace Indian badminton player Saina Nehwal as she lost her World No.1 ranking to All England and World champion Carolina Marin of Spain.
In the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) ranking list released on Thursday, Nehwal dropped to No. 2 spot in women’s singles with 81782 points, 1630 points behind Marin, who reached the semifinals at Odense, Denmark last week.
After her World Championship final loss to Marin, Nehwal made second-round exits in the next two tournaments -- Japan and Denmark -- following her straight-game defeats against Japan’s Minatsu Mitani.
Two-time World Championship bronze medallist PV Sindhu, who reached her maiden Super Series final at the Denmark Open last week, remained static at World No. 13.
In men’s singles, Kidambi Srikanth, Parupalli Kashyap and HS Prannoy slipped down the rankings chart. While Srikanth lost a spot to be sixth, Commonwealth Games champion Kashyap slumped to No. 10 from No. 8.
Indonesia Masters winner Prannoy, who defeated two-time Olympic and five-time World Champion Lin Dan of China in the first round of the French Open in Paris on Wednesday, lost a position to become No. 17 but Ajay Jayaram climbed one place to World No.25.
In men’s doubles, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, who reached the finals of the Dutch Open Grand Prix, rose to No. 19, while Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa slipped a place to No. 13 in women’s doubles.
