Kuala Lumpur: As BadmintonPlanet.com predicted in this article “Lee Chong Wei regains confidence with French Open victory” few days ago, former World No. 1 badminton player Lee Chong Wei have shot up the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings after winning the French Open men’s title last Sunday.
Lee, who defeated Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan 21-13, 21-18 in a one-sided French Open final, earned 9,200 points and climbed 9 places up to world No. 10 in the rankings released on Thursday. Lee’s ranking had plummeted to world No. 180 after he served a 8 month suspension imposed BWF, but only needed about 6 months to climb his way back to top 10 rankings.
Chinese shuttler Chen Long, with 98,681 points, held on to the men’s top spot, followed by Jan O Jorgensen, Lin Dan, Kento Momota, Kidambi Srikanth, Chou Tien Chen, Viktor Axelsen, Wang Zhengming and Tian Houwei in the men’s top 9 rankings.
Other Malaysian men’s singles shuttlers such as Chong Wei Feng, Zulfadli Zulkiffli, Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin, Soo Teck Zhi, Goh Soon Huat, Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif, and Daren Liew were ranked No. 33, No. 39, No. 52, No. 66, No. 75, No. 82, and No. 97 respectively.
Carolina Marin has widened her lead at No. 1 in the BWF rankings with her French Open title in Paris last Sunday, now holding 4,880 additional points to No. 2 Saina Nehwal. Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan moved up 1 spot to No. 3 while Sung Ju Hyun and Ratchanok Intanon were at No. 4 and No. 5. Wang Shixian, Li Xuerui and Wang Yihan of China have occupied the 6th, 7th and 8th spots.
Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong continued to maintain No. 1 spot in men’s doubles rankings. With 19,743 more points than second place Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan, Lee/Yoo already are assured of finishing the year at world No. 1. Fu Haifeng/Zhang Nan of China advanced to No. 3 with 73,637 points, Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen of Denmark and Chai Biao/Hong Wei of China became No. 4, and No. 5 pair of the world.
Malaysia’s men’s pairs Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong rose 3 spots to No. 19, while Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong remained at No. 14.
The women’s doubles top 10 comprised of Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi (No. 1), Luo Ying/Luo Yu (No.2), Nitya Krishinda Maheswari/Greysia Polii (No. 3), Kamilla Rytter Juhl/Christinna Pedersen (No. 4), Tian Qing/Zhao Yunlei (No. 5), Reika Kakiiwa/Miyuki Maeda (No. 6), Wang Xiaoli/Yu Yang (No. 7), Ma Jin/Tang Yuanting (No. 8), Eefje Muskens/Selena Piek (No. 9), Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei (No. 10).
The mixed doubles’ top 10 remained unchanged, including Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei at No. 1, Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir at No. 2, Ko Sung Hyun/Kim Ha Na at No. 6. Malaysia’s Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying move up 1 position to No. 15.
