Taking a giant leap towards realising her aim of becoming the world’s number one player, India’s Saina Nehwal shot up three places to World. No 3 in the latest rankings released by the Badminton World Federation on Thursday.
After winning the India Open Grand Prix Gold in Chennai and the Singapore Super Series, the Indian marched ahead of three Chinese players in the women’s singles charts for her career-best ranking.
The ace Indian shuttler is the lone non-Chinese player in the top six rankings.
China’s Yihan Wang tops the list followed by Xin Wang. Saina pushed behind Shixian Wang, Wang Lin and Jiang Yanjiao, who all went down by one place.
Saina’s previous best was the fifth position, which she grabbed in March after becoming the first Indian woman to reach the semifinals of All England Super Series Championships.
Saina is well on course for a hattrick of her titles after getting through to the quarterfinals of the Indonesian Open Super Series in Jakarta on Thursday, going past Bulgaria’s Petya Nedelcheva 21-9, 21-15.