Hyderabad shuttler Siril Verma tops junior badminton rankings

India’s Siril Verma climbed up a whopping 11 places to occupy the number one spot in junior men’s singles category in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings issued on Thursday.

Siril, the current world junior championships runners-up and regarded as the next big thing in Indian badminton, is ahead of second placed Toma Junior Popov of France while another Indian Chirag Sen occupies the third spot.

Siril has been a beneficiary of the Olympic Gold Quest programme for the last four years and is a trainee at the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad.

Meanwhile, star Indian women’s shuttler and London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Mehwal continues to occupy the second spot in the rankings behind Carolina Marin of Spain, while Li Xuerei of China is at the third position.

Two-time world championship bronze medallist P.V. Sindhu maintained her 12th position in the new rankings. In the men’s singles category, Kidambi Srikanth is the only Indian shuttler in the top 10, occupying the ninth spot.

Glasgow Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap, who is back after an injury lay-off, is at the 15th spot ahead of H.S. Prannoy (20th) and Ajay Jayram (21st). 2011 World Championships bronze medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwinin Ponappa is at the 14th position in the women’s doubles rankings.