Satwik and Chirag become world No. 1
Delhi: Satwik and Chirag, who earned India’s first-ever badminton gold medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last Sunday, climbed two spots to achieve the numero uno position in the latest BWF World Rankings.
The honour of holding the first spot in the world rankings has only been shared by three other Indians. When Prakash Padukone rose to the top of the men’s singles rankings in 1980, he was the first. Prior to Saina Nehwal, the only Indian woman’s singles player to reach the All England Open Badminton Championships final, India had to wait another 35 years for the country to produce another world No. 1.
Kidambi Srikanth was the third Indian and second male player to be ranked No.1 when a brilliant run of form that saw him reach five Superseries finals – winning four – to become world No.1 in 2018.
But Rankireddy and Shetty are the first Indian pair to become No.1, overtaking Indonesians Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto and Chinese Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang to reach the summit.
