Satwik-Chirag attain World No.1 position in BWF men's doubles rankings

The duo became the first Indian to win gold in men's doubles at Asian Games.

The Asian Games 2023 gold medalist Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have climbed to the top spot in the BWF World Rankings for men's doubles on October 10 (Tuesday). Satwik-Chirag, Asian Games champions, rose up by two spots leapfrogging Indonesia's Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto and China's Liang/Wang.

Satwik-Chirag entered the Asian Games 2023 as the WR-3 pair and had a relatively easier draw enroute to the semifinals. They faced 10th seed Leo Carnando and Daniel Marthin in the R16 clash and then had to go past inexperienced pair Nge Joo Jie and Johann Prajogo from Singapore.

With a medal assured post reaching the semifinals, the Indian duo rallied past South Korea's Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung and former world champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik to claim the coveted medal.

Countrymates, MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila entered the top 40s by gaining two spots. The pair has had a poor season with the former suffering from a back injury throughout the second half of 2023.

Meanwhile, India's top ranked men's singles shuttler, HS Prannoy, after clinching a historic bronze medal dropped a place below to WR-8. His compatriots, Lakshya Sen fell to WR-15 while Kidambi Srikanth was back inside the top 20s.

In the women's singles, two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu jumped two spots to WR-13. She progressed to the quarterfinals at Asian Games 2023 but couldn't go past home favourite He Bing Jiao. She will now be seen in action at the Arctic Open (BWF 500) tournament in Finland.

Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand exited the Asian Games after a loss in the pre-quarterfinals but managed to rise a spot to WR-16. Other Indian pairing of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponappa are making steady progress and have entered inside the top 40s. With few more victories, the new pairing can be seen taking part in major BWF events going forward.