Kuala Lumpur: Former world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei received a ranking boost by moving up 19 places to number 46 in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) world rankings released on Thursday.
Lee, who rose from world No. 65 to No. 46 has garnered enough ranking points to make himself eligible to compete for all upcoming Superseries events that offered the most ranking points, prize money, public and media attention.
Despite Lee’s steady upward climb in the rankings, he still ranked behind compatriots Zulfadli Zulkiffli and Chong Wei Feng, who were 38th and 40th in the rankings.
Chinese badminton star Chen Long held on to his No.1 spot in the BWF men’s singles rankings with 95,901 points. Denmark’s badminton ace Jan O Jorgensen also maintained his second position with 72,367 points, followed by India’s Kidambi Srikanth with 69,164 points. Kento Momota and Lin Dan were ranked No. 4 and No. 5 respectively. The Chinese Open runner-up Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan moved up 2 spots to world No. 6.
In men’s doubles, Malaysians Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong jumped 2 places to No. 17, while Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong kept up their momentum to further climb the rankings to No. 67.
South Koreans Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong continued to head the latest men’s doubles rankings. Four other pairs ranked in the top five were Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen of Denmark, Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan of Indonesia, Chai Biao/Hong Wei of China and Fu Haifeng/Zhang Nan of China.
Even though both Carolina Marin of Spain and Saina Nehwal of India have skipped last week’s Chinese Taipei Open, they still able to retain their world No. 1 and No.2 position respectively in the women’s singles category. The London Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China and top Taiwanese shuttler Tai Tzu Ying each rose one spot to No. 3 and No. 4, while former world champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand has slipped to No. 5. After triumphing at the Chinese Taipei Open last week, Wang Yihan has surpassed compatriot Wang Shixian to No. 6.
Malaysia’s women’s singles Lyddia Cheah and Tee Jing Yi were ranked No. 56 and No. 58.
Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi remained atop the latest women’s doubles rankings. China’s Luo Ying/Luo Yu was second, followed by Wang Xiaoli/Yu Yang of China, Kamilla Rytter Juhl/Christinna Pedersen of Denmark and Nitya Krishinda Maheswari/Greysia Polii of Indonesia.
Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei of Malaysia jumped one position to No. 11 while, another Malaysian pair Amelia Alicia Anscelly/Soong Fie Cho dropped one spot to No. 25.
Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei retained a big lead and there were no changes in the top 5 of the mixed doubles rankings. Xu Chen/Ma Jin stayed at the second place, followed by Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia, Liu Cheng/Bao Yixin of China, and Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen of Denmark in the 3rd, 4th and 5th.
Malaysia’s mixed doubles pair Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying shot up 7 spots to No. 41, while Tan Aik Quan/Lai Pei Jing still the top ranked Malaysian mixed doubles pair at No. 40.
