Saina Nehwal slips to number three in badminton rankings

Saina Nehwal, at number three, has 79192 points in her kitty. (Source: AP)

Indian ace Saina Nehwal was on Thursday displaced from the top spot in badminton world rankings, slipping to third in the latest women’s singles list.

Saina, the first Indian woman badminton player to be world number one, dropped two spots and is placed below Spaniard Carolina Marin (80752), who rose a rung courtesy her Australian Open title triumph.

The Indian has 79192 points in her kitty. Olympic champion Li Xuerui claimed the top spot, going up a place with 85217 points.

In men’s singles, Kidambi Srikanth was the highest-placed Indian, climbing a position to third with 67157 points. He is placed ahead of Chinese star Lin Dan, who has slipped a couple of positions.

Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap is the next best Indian at 12th, followed by H S Prannoy at 13th.

In the women’s doubles list, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa went up a place to be ranked 17th.