Srikanth back in top 10 of world rankings, Sindhu drops to No 5
NEW DELHI: Victories in the Indonesia Open and Australian Open Superseries events have lifted India’s Kidambi Srikanth three spots to eighth place in men’s singles rankings, according to the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) list released on Thursday.
Srikanth, who beat the world and Olympic champion Chen Long in straight games to claim the Australian Open, has entered the top ten of the BWF men’s singles rankings for the first time in 10 months.
In the women’s list, PV Sindhu dropped a place to No.5, Saina Nehwal rose one rung to enter the top-15.
JWALA IN COACHES LIST
Former players, including Jwala Gutta, Arvind Bhat, and Chetan Anand, have been included in the coaches panel prepared by the Badminton Association of India (BAI).
While Pullela Gopichand is the chief national coach, BAI selected 19 others to coach men’s singles players across the country in different zones. There are 12 others for men’s doubles and four coaches for women’s doubles. The men’s singles coaches include Anup Sridhar, Anand and Dipankar Bhattacharjee.
The women’s doubles coaches include Jwala, Madhumita Bist, Pradnya Gadre and Oli Deka.
MARY KOM PEP TALK
Battling against odds has been the hallmark of her illustrious career and that’s precisely what MC Mary Kom told the members of the Indian women’s hockey team as they embark on their journey to qualify for 2018 World Cup to be held in London.
Mary Kom had a surprise session with Indian women ahead of their departure for the FIH Hockey World League Semi-Final to be held in Johannesburg from July 8 to 23. “We did everything in our capacity to prepare ourselves for the event. We even had an hour long inspirational session with Mary Kom yesterday,” Indian women’s hockey team coach Marije Sjoerd said.
ADVANI TO LEAD
BISHKEK (KYRGYZSTAN): Ace cueist Pankaj Advani is set to defend his 6-red snooker title with India fielding a strong team at the Asian 6-Red Snooker and Team Championships scheduled here over the next one week.
The Indian contingent will be spearheaded by 16-time world champion Advani.
He will accompanied by Kamal Chawla, Faisal Khan, Malkeet Singh besides former billiards player Ashok Shandilya as coach.