Saina Nehwal Slips A Place, Moves Out Of Top 10 BWF Rankings

London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal is not among the top 10 players as per the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings released on Thursday. She has slipped a place to secure the 11th rank after her loss to world champion and Rio Olympics gold medallist Carolina Marin at the Nanjing World Championships quarter-finals. However, recently at the BWF Badminton World Championships, she regained an honour by storming into the women’s singles quarterfinals after thrashing 2013 champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 21-16 21-19.

Saina became the first woman to reach the quarter-finals of the championship for eight consecutive times.

Saina's compatriot PV Sindhu, too lost to Marin in the final of the same tournament and settled for the silver, took the third rank. Sindhu comes number three on the list after Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying on the top spot, followed by Japanese Akane Yamaguchi.

Indian Express reported that while entering the quarters, Saina had said, “It is a very good win. She is known for a deceptive game. Second game was going my way, but suddenly she played some difficult strokes, she was everywhere and made it 19-19. At that point, Gopi sir played a big role. He told me what to do and I followed that and the game turned in my favour.”

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Saina’s overall performance in recent times has been improving after her knee surgery. Continuing her winning streak from the Commonwealth Games, Saina Nehwal shone again at the Badminton Asia Championship in April when she won a bronze in the women’s singles semifinals. This is for the third time that Saina has ensured a bronze medal for India at the Asian tournament. She had clinched her second gold medal at the Commonwealth Games earlier this year. Her past achievements include an individual gold in the 2010 CWG in New Delhi and mixed team silver and bronze in 2010 and 2006 respectively. Saina also received the Youth Icon award at the inaugural TOISA in 2015.

Picture Credit: Indianexpress.com

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