Saina, Srikanth slide down in BWF World Rankings following losses in India Open Super Series

New Delhi: Failure to defend their individual titles at the India Open Super Series last week cost Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth dearly as the top Indian shuttlers slipped down the order in the latest BWF World ranking on Thursday.

Saina, who had to deal with a nagging ankle injury, lost two places to sink to World No 8 in women’s singles after losing in the semifinals of India Open, while Srikanth dropped four spots to be placed at the 14th spot in men’s singles.

Srikanth suffered a narrow defeat against China’s Tian Houwei in the opening round in New Delhi to lose a lot of ranking points. The Indian is likely to slip further when the next ranking list is out after failing to cross the opening hurdle at the ongoing Malaysia Super Series Premier.

Swiss Open champion, HS Prannoy slumped three places to World No 22 after losing his opening round match against Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk in New Delhi. Ajay Jayaram, who also lost in the opening round, was static at World No 24.

Commonwealth Games champion P Kashyap, whose Rio Olympic qualification dream was crushed by a series of injuries since last year, sunk to World No 18.

However, PV Sindhu, who had reached the quarterfinals last week, improved a place to be back in the top 10 of women’s singles.

In men’s doubles, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy remained at No 19, while Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa too retained their World No 15 position in women’s doubles.