Kuala Lumpur: Former world number one shuttler Datuk Lee Chong Wei’s ranking had taken a sharp nose dive in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings released on Thursday. Chong Wei fell 101 spots to world No. 180. However, he is expected to rise up in the rankings starting next week.
According to the rankings released in BWF’s official website, Chong Wei now has 9882.57 points, all accumulated at the BWF Sudirman Cup that was held at Guangdong Province in Dongguan, China from 10 to 17 May 2015. Chong Wei was looking to re-establish his dominance in badminton at the 2015 Sudirman Cup by defeating world No. 34 Lee Dong Keun, world No. 4 Kidambi Srikanth, and world No. 5 Son Wan Ho.
Meanwhile, Chen Long of China was the top ranked men’s singles player for 26 consecutive weeks. Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark still at No. 2, Kidambi Srikanth of India in 3rd, Japan youngster Kento Momoda has shot up to No. 4, while China’s Lin Dan dropped to No. 5.
Malaysia’s world championships qualifier Zulfadli Zulkiffli has moved up two places to No. 39; Chong Wei Feng who won gold medal at the recently concluded SEA Games has dropped 4 spots to No. 40.
In women’s singles, Carolina Marin remained as the world No. 1, while India’s Olympic bronze medalist Saina Nehwal reached the second spot. Ratchanok Intanon has moved up to third place, Li Xuerui dropped 1 spot to No. 4 and Tai Tzu Ying was in fifth spot.
Malaysia’s highest ranked women’s singles were Lyddia Cheah and Tee Jing Yi, ranked 58 and 62 respectively.
South Korea’s Lee Yong-dae/Yoo Yeon Seong topped the men’s doubles list with 92680 points, Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen of Denmark finished second, followed by Chai Biao/Hong Wei of China, Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan of Indonesia and Hiroyuki Endo/Kenichi Hayakawa of Japan. Malaysia’s men’s doubles Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong who suffered a miserable first round loss at the SEA Games was ranked 17.
Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi of Japan, Wang Xiaoli/Yu Yang of China, Luo Ying/Luo Yu of China, Kamilla Rytter Juhl/Christinna Pedersen of Denmark and Nitya Krishinda Maheswari/Greysia Polii of Indonesia were holding the top 5 rankings in women’s doubles. Malaysia’s Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei were placed at No. 11; SEA Games women’s doubles champions Amelia Alicia Anscelly/Soong Fie Cho of Malaysia have climbed to No. 23.
The latest BWF rankings also showed China’s Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei continued to lead the mixed doubles ahead of compatriots Xu Chen/Ma Jin, Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia, Liu Cheng/Bao Yixin of China and Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen of Denmark. Tan Aik Quan/Lai Pei Jing was the highest ranked Malaysian pair, ranked No. 41; and SEA Games silver medalists of Malaysia, Goh Liu Ying and Chan Peng Soon were ranked No. 48.
