French Open finalists Satwik-Chirag reclaim top-10 spot in BWF rankings

New Delhi : Indian men's doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty has reclaimed its position in the top 10 of the latest BWF rankings.

Satwik and Chirag, who became the first Indian pair to enter the finals of a BWF World Tour Super 750 event at the French Open last week, gained two places to grab the ninth place.

The Indian duo had broken into the top 10 for the first time in August following its historic triumph at the Thailand Open BWF Super Tour 500 event. Satwik and Chirag had shocked the then reigning world champions Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen of China in the Thailand Open final to become the first Indian men's pairing to win a super 500 event.

Last week, the young Indian pair dished out a superlative performance, stunning reigning world champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan, World No. 8 Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen and World No. 6 Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe on way to the finals.

The Indian duo lost in the finals to world no 1 Indonesian combination of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo. Last year, Satwik and Chirag had claimed the Hyderabad Open Super 100 and also won silver medal at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Their consistent performance in the international circuit has earned Satwik and Chirag a deal with sports management company IOS Sports and Entertainment. "As athletes we don't have a lot of time to handle our brand portfolios and other commercial commitments.

Hence I am happy to be on board with IOS Sports who have a proven record and long term associations with other elite athletes of the country," said 19 year-old Satwik. Meanwhile, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal remained static at the sixth and ninth places respectively in the rankings after finishing in the quarter-finals in women's singles in Paris.

Rising shuttler Lakshya Sen, who is currently playing at the SaarLorLux Open, moved up a place to 51st, while Shubankar Dey jumped four places to No 38. Parupalli Kashyap also improved a place to grab the 25th spot while Sameer Verma also climbed a place to the 17th spot. Women's doubles pairing of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy were out of the top-25 after slipping two positions to be placed 26th.