Badminton

BWF World Rankings: HS Prannoy Storms Into Top 15 For First Time In Four Years

India's journeyman HS Prannoy has broken into the top 15 of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) after a gap of almost four years. The last time the traveler was world number 15 was October 17, 2018. He moved up one place to enter the top 15 again. Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Bhatnagar (jumping two places to number 30) reached the highest level.

"@PRANNOYHSPRI back in top-15 Doubles pairs @arjunmr/@dhruvkapilaa and @ishaan0202/#TanishaCrasto better their highest rank Checkout the ranking updates @himantabiswa| @sanjay091968 #BWFWorldRankings #IndiaontheRise #Badminton," tweeted Badminton Association of India (BAI) Media.

Apparently, World Championship Quarter Finalists Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun won the men's doubles titles at the Maha Metro Maharashtra International Challenge badminton tournament in Nagpur earlier this month.

Recently, Prannoy became the world's number one player in the men's singles category of the BWF World Tour Rankings.

In the updated status on September 6, Prannoy established himself as the first traveler in the tour category. The 2022 BWF Badminton World Tour started on January 11 and ended on December 18. This is the fifth season of the BWF Badminton World Tour. The tour consists of 22 tournaments leading up to the tour's finale in December. These 22 tournaments are divided into five levels, Tier 1 is the World Tour Finals, Tier 2 is followed by the Super 1000, Tier 3 is called the Super 750, Tier 4 is called the Super 500 and Tier 5 called Super 300. Different cash prizes are awarded at different levels in each competition.

Prannoy started 2022 with a quarter-final at the Indian Open in January. Then, in the same month, he won the Syed Modi International 2022 quarterfinals.

In March 2022, Prannoy reached the fourth round of the 2022 German Open.

In the same month at the 2022 English Open, he could not advance past the first round. In the 2022 Swiss Open held in the same month, he finished second, and Indonesia's Leonardus Jonatan Christie won in the final. At the 2022 Korea Open in early April, he was knocked out in the first round.

In the 2022 Thailand Open held in May, he could not perform well and lost in the first round himself. In June, at the 2022 Indonesia Open, Prannoy won the semifinals. In the same month, he won in the quarterfinals at the 2022 Malaysian Open. In July, at the Malaysia Masters 2022, the journeyman completed the tournament after winning in the semi-finals.

That same month at the Singapore Open, Prannoy won the quarterfinals. In August at the 2022 Japan Open, he lost in the quarterfinals.