PV Sindhu slips down to world number 15 in latest BWF Rankings

Two-time Olympic medallist has reached the final of BWF Tour only once this season.

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu dropped three spots to World Rank 15 in the latest BWF (Badminton World Federation) rankings released on Tuesday (July 4th). She started the season as world number seven but with a dip in form moved out of the top 10 in April. This is PV Sindhu's worst ever ranking for close to a decade. She has been ranked inside the top 14 from April 2013 to June 2023.

She achieved her career best rank of World No. 2 in 2017; a year after clinching her first Olympics medal in Rio. The 27-year-old has been going through a rough patch since her gold medal win at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022. Post the Games, due to an injury she did not participate in a single tournament in the second half of the 2022 season and returned back to action this year at the Malaysia Open in January.

Her return to the circuit wasn't fruitful either with Sindhu losing in the opening rounds in two consecutive tournaments — Malaysia Open and India Open. The poor run continued further in the European circuit until Madrid Open (BWF 300), where she reached the final but ultimately lost to Indonesia's rising star Mariska Tunjung.

Overall, Sindhu has failed to progress beyond the opening round five times out of the nine BWF World Tour tournaments she has participated in this year. In middle of the poor run, she parted ways with long time coach Park Tae Sang before the All England Open and is currently training under Hafiz Hashim from Malaysia.

The Hyderabadi after a two-week break will take part in the Canada Open (BWF 500) and USA Open (BWF 300).

There isn't any major change in the rankings of other Indian shuttlers. HS Prannoy continues to hold on to the eighth spot and is the highest ranked Indian in men's singles. His compatriots in singles, Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth also retained their previous week rankings of WR-19 and WR-20 respectively. In the women's singles, Saina Nehwal is the second best ranked at WR 30 followed by Aakarshi Kashyap at WR-42 — going down by a spot.

Asian Champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have retained their career-best ranking of WR-3. MR Arjun/Dhruv Kapila drop out of top 25 and are currently placed in the 26th position followed by Krishna Prasad Garaga/Vishnuvardhan Panjala at WR-37.

PV Sindhu's performance so far in 2023

Malaysia Open - R32

India Open - R32

All England Championships - R32

Swiss Open - R16

Spain Masters - Runner-up

Malaysia Masters - Semi-finalist

Thailand Open - R32

Singapore Open - R32

Indonesia Open - R16