The record of Saina Nehwal for the most weeks at the top of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) world ranking by an Indian has been surpassed by the top-ranked Indian men’s doubles team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.
The record of Saina Nehwal for the longest weeks an Indian has spent atop the Badminton World Federation (BWF) world rankings for men’s doubles has been surpassed by Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. The hard-hitting team has dominated for ten weeks. Since 2022, they have won numerous historic BWF crowns as well as other championships and medals. According to Olympics.com, Nehwal, the previous record holder, took the top spot on August 18, 2015, and remained there for nine weeks till October 21, 2015.
The winners of the Asian Games qualified for the finals of the China Open, Malaysia Open, and India Open this year, which gave them the top slot. Their reign on the top spot was cemented with a victory in the French Open.
The top 10 events scored by a player or couple over the previous 52 weeks are factored into the ranking system.
Chirag-Satwik currently leads the leaderboard with 1,02,303 points, more than 5,000 points ahead of the South Korean duo of Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae, who are ranked second.
After winning the Asian Games in Hangzhou in October of last year, “Sat-Chi” became the first-ever Indian doubles team to top the BWF Rankings. However, their reign of supremacy would only last for three weeks.
Kidambi Srikanth was able to hold the top spot in the men’s singles for just one week in April of 2018.
Although computerized ranking point systems were introduced much later in the sport, legendary shuttler Prakash Padukone—the first Indian to win the coveted All England Open championship in 1980—was considered the best in his peak.
