Saina, Srikanth vault two spots in BWF rankings

Star shuttler Saina Nehwal's second Australian Open title propelled her two rungs up to the sixth spot while Kidambi Srikanth also rose similarly to No.11 in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings for women's and men's singles respectively.

Saina's statemate PV Sindhu, however, retained her No.10 spot in the rankings, which witnessed South Korea's Sung Ji Hyun and China's Wang Shixian dropping one spot each to be at No.7 and No.8 respectively. Spain's Carolina Marin continues to lead the women's singles table.

In men's singles, Srikanth, who reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open, was the lone Indian shuttler to rise while his compatriots Ajay Jayaram, B. Sai Praneeth dropped three spots to be placed at No.24 and No.33 respectively.

Sameer Verma also dropped two spots to be at No.37 while injured Parupalli Kashyap dropped a rung to be at the 68th spot.

In women's doubles, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa also dropped a place to be positioned No.16.

--IANS

tri/vm