New Delhi:
A quarterfinal finish at the Singapore Super Series helped ace India shuttler Saina Nehwal climb a place to the third position at the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) women's singles ranking released on Thursday.
The London bronze medallist had dropped to the fourth place after failing to defend her title at the Indonesian Super Series Premier but a last eight finish at Singapore last week enabled her to achieve 73510 points and reach the third spot.
The 23-year-old Indian had been enjoying her career-best ranking of world number two since March this year but her failure to defend her titles in Thailand and Indonesia saw her slip to the fourth place.
Malaysia Open winner P V Sindhu, who missed three back-to-back tournaments in June because of an knee injury, was steady at the 12th position, while rising shuttler Arundhati Pantawane gained 10 places to reach the 49th spot.
Chinese duo of Li Xuerui (87713.42) and Yihan Wang (74655.77) holds the first and second position in the ranking.
In men's singles, a dip in performance reflected in Parupalli Kashyap's ranking as he slipped two places to the 13th spot. The Indian lost in the first round in Indonesia and Singapore.
RMV Gurusaidutt and Ajay Jayaram improved one place each to reach the 22nd and 24th positions in the men's singles ranking. B Sai Praneeth gained five places to reach a career-best ranking of 40, while Thailand Grand Prix Gold champion K Srikanth also jumped a place to the 41st spot. Sourabh Verma was static at 37th place.
Women's doubles pair of Pradnya Gadre and Ashwini Ponnappa jumped four places to reach the 28th spot.
