Saina drops to 3rd, Kashyap moves up to 9th in BWF rankings

Olympic bronze medallist shuttler Saina Nehwal has dropped a rung to be placed third, while Parupalli Kashyap has jumped two places to ninth position in the Badminton World Federation rankings released today.

World Champion Yihan Wang of China has leapfrogged Saina, who turns 23 on March 17, from the second position in the women's singles rankings.

However, the Indian has a great chance of overtaking her Chinese opponent as both Wang and Olympic champion and No.1 ranked Li Xuerui have been knocked out of the ongoing All England Open Badminton Championships yesterday.

Saina's compatriot PV Sindhu has managed to retain her 16th rank and is the only other Indian female shuttler in the top 50 list.

In the men's singles chart, India's London Olympics quarterfinalist Kashyap shot up two places to equal his career-best ninth rank.

Among other Indians, Mumbai lad Ajay Jayaram jumped a place to the 31st spot, while rising shuttler RMV Gurusaidutt dropped to 38th and Madhya Pradesh's Sourabh Verma retained his 43rd position.

Mumbai's Anand Pawar, meanwhile, has jumped a whopping six places to be placed 45th.
In the mixed doubles rankings, Ashwini Ponnappa and Tarun Kona climbed up two places to the 29th spot, while Jwala Gutta and her partner V Diju had dropped two places to 41st.