India`s Priyanshu Rajawat had a reason to cheer after he jumped 20 places to achieve a career-best world ranking of 38 in the latest BWF rankings issued on Tuesday. The 21-year-old from Madhya Pradesh clinched his maiden Super 300 title after beating Denmark`s Magnus Johannsen 21-15, 19-21, 21-16 in the summit clash to attain valuable ranking points.
In the process, Rajawat is now the fourth-best ranked Indian men`s singles player in the BWF rankings with 30,786 points. Meanwhile, Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen, who is currently on a break, moved up a spot to 24th, while Kidambi Srikanth lost two places to slip to world No. 23. HS Prannoy continues to be the best-ranked men`s singles player at No. 8.
In the women`s singles, PV Sindhu, who had reached the final of Spain Masters, slipped two rungs to world No.11 once again, while Saina Nehwal moved to world No.31. The men`s doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty remained static at world No. 6, followed by the combination of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila at 27th. The women`s doubles pairing of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand slipped a place to world No. 20, while the mixed doubles pair of Tanisha and Ishaan Bhatnagar are ranked 29th in the world.
Rajawat capped off an impressive week with a thrilling win in the final against Denmark’s Magnus Johannesen to claim the men’s singles title at the Orleans Masters here on Sunday. The Madhya Pradesh shuttler, who was part of the Indian team that registered an epic win at the 2022 Thomas Cup, saw off World No. 49 Johannesen 21-15, 19-21, 21-16 in a 68-minute summit clash to grab the biggest title of his career.
“I am very happy with my performance this week. It is my first big title and I’m extremely happy to win this,” he told PTI from Orleans. The two shuttlers, making it to the final after coming through the qualifiers, dished out some superb badminton, but the Indian rode on his ability to produce winners to secure the world tour Super 300 crown.
(With PTI inputs)
