Satwik-Chirag Regains World No. 1 Spot, Dethrones China's Ling-Wang

The feat by Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty became possible after their back-to-back runner-up finishes at Malaysia Open and India Open. HS Prannoy also progressed in the rankings getting to the eighth spot in the latest BWF rankings.

New Delhi: The Indian duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty reclaimed the World No. 1 ranking on Tuesday surpassing Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang of China according to the latest rankings released by Badminton World Federation (BWF).

The pair had risen to the top spot for the first time on October 10 last year as a result of their historic gold-medal winning performance at the Asian Games. They were the first Indian pair to clinch gold at the Asian Games. However, the pair was not able to stay at the top for long and China's Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang were replaced for the first position on October 31.

The French Open didn't turn out to be very good for the duo as they were knocked out of the quarterfinals and they gave a walkover at Denmark Open and slipped to the third position. However, a runner-up finish at China Masters bettered their rank by one spot and they were at the second position.

The last season saw many firsts for Indian badminton as the Satwik-Chirag pair bagged elusive titles in the form of the Badminton Asia Championships, Asian Games and Indonesia Open Super 1000 titles. However, the early exits from multiple tournaments forced the par to miss the BWF Tour Finals.

Satwik and Chirag have now started 2024 on a high note dishing out impressive performances in Malaysia Open Super 1000 and India Open Super 1000. They ended as runner-up in both tournaments and the hard work was paired with the duo regaining the throne in the BWF rankings.

HS Prannoy also improved his rankings to eighth place after a semifinal finish at the Australian Open.

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