Badminton

Indian men's doubles badminton pair of Satwik Sairaj and Chirag jumped two spots to achieve a career-best world No. 5 ranking in the BWF World Rankings on Tuesday. "Into the top 5 of the world! But the journey only gets harder from here to reach the summit!," Satwiksairaj wrote on Twitter.

Showing their consistency throughout the season, the Indian duo won the bronze medal at the World Championships in Tokyo and lifted their maiden Super 750 title at the French Open. At the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Chirag and Satwiksairaj won India's first-ever gold medal in men's doubles in the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

In the latest BWF World Rankings released on Tuesday, Prannoy climbed two spots to ninth in the world, thanks to his fighting display in the BWF World Tour Finals in which he defeated World No.1, Viktor Axelsen. Though he did not make it to the knockout rounds, he figured in three hard-fought matches.

While the score was close Yamaguchi, who last won the season-ender five years ago, was unmistakably in the driver's seat during the 46-minute contest. With this, the Japanese became the first women's singles player since Ye Zhaoying in 1997 to claim the All England Open, World Championships and end-of-season finals all in the same year.

The turning point of the match between Chen and Yamaguchi came when the score was tied at 19-19 in the first set. Chen had scored five consecutive points to tie the set and forced Yamaguchi off balance during the play. But the Olympic champion failed to hit a winning strike and the shuttle was called out following Yamaguchi's challenge.

Prannoy, who is out of contention for a spot in the semifinals after losing his previous matches against Japan's Kodai Naraoka and Lu Guang Zu of China, respectively in the four-player Group A, defeated Axelsen in three games, winning 14-21, 21-17, 21-18 in nearly one-hour encounter in his maiden appearance in the year-end extravaganza.

The ace shuttler finished the year with a gold at the recently concluded Peru Para-Badminton International in Lima. He also won a bronze medal at the BWF Para World Badminton championships in Tokyo in November. The ace shuttler is behind France's Lucas Mazur who is currently world and Paralympic champion in SL4.

Sukant maintained his dominance right from the word go in the finals. He defeated Chee Hiong Ang in straight sets with a score line of 21-14 and 21-15. The match lasted 32 minutes. The ace shuttler didn't put a foot wrong and had a great final. Talking about the same Sukant Kadam said, "I am really happy with the result, I have been training hard. I have had a good year and I hope that I continue with the same consistency next year."

Sukant Kadam eased past Guatemala's Raul Anguiano in the semifinals with a score line of 21-10 and 21-12. The match lasted for 20 minutes and Sukant completely outplayed his opponent. In the finals the shuttler is all set to face Singapore's Chee Hiong Ang which will take place tomorrow.

The U-15 singles player Anish Thoppani and the U-17 men's doubles pair of Arsh Mohammad and Sanskar Saraswat also posted brilliant victories to move into their respective finals. Top-seed Unnati once again lived up to the expectations and stamped her authority in the U-17 women's singles semifinal when she wrapped up the match in straight sets. The Odisha Open champion has not yet dropped a set in her campaign at the prestigious event.