New Delhi: India’s ace shuttler Parupalli Kashyap, who recently triumphed in the Syed Modi International India Grand Prix, made a leap of six places to reach a career-best ranking of 14th in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings released on Thursday.
The title win in Lucknow was the 26-year-old’s first in a tier three event.
PV Sindhu also reached her career-best ranking of 19 after gaining five places.
Saina Nehwal will end the year as third in the world behind the Chinese duo of Li Xuerui and Wang Yihan.
The men’s list is headed by Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei followed by China’s Chen Long. Chen Jin and Lin Dan are third and fourth.
Kashyap defended national coach Pullela Gopichand, who was rapped by the Bombay High Court for running a private academy, saying that Indian badminton owes its success to Gopichand.
“The badminton scene has changed in India only because of Gopichand. Now there is a proper structure, which was missing in the last 10 years. Gopichand has used his experience to bring about the change,” Kashyap said.
“I am very upset and it is very sickening. Gopichand has put in so much effort behind the players,” he added. (IANS)