Saina Nehwal Regains Second Spot in World Badminton Rankings

Following her brilliant performance at the All England Championships, India's premier badminton player Saina Nehwal on Thursday regained her career-best second rank in the world. She jumped a place to pip Wang Shixian of China to become World No. 2, and is behind another Chinese Li Xuerei.(Saina Learning From a Loss)

Saina failed to create history when she lost the All England final in Birmingham on Sunday against world champion Carolina Marin. She would have been the first Indian woman to win the Wimbledon of badminton, but went down 21-16, 14-21 and 7-21 in an hour and two minutes. This was her first defeat against the Spaniard in four meetings.

She was clearly elated after climbing back on top. "I am happy to regain my position as number two in the world ranking. After All England, I knew I will become the number two this week. I will work hard and try to become the world number one soon," Saina said. (Saina Looks to Take Positives From All England Experience)

Saina's next assignment is the Indian Open later in March, another title which has always eluded her.(Saina Admits Losing Focus and Getting Nervous)

PV Sindhu remained ninth while rising male shuttler Kidambi Srikanth also returned to his career-best fourth spot. He is currently participating in the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold.

(With inputs from PTI)