Jayaram back in top 20 shuttlers; Srikanth, Saina, Sindhu static

Kuala Lumpur, July 14 (IANS) Promising shuttler Ajay Jayaram's semi-final finish at the recently-concluded US Open Grand Prix Gold helped him rise two places to be back in top 20 in men's singles of the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings released here on Thursday.

Jayaram was placed at 20th spot with 43,673 points, while B. Sai Praneeth, slipped two places to 35th after his early exit from the US Open.

Among others, Kidambi Srikanth, Sameer Verma and H.S. Prannoy were static at 11th, 38th and 29th positions respectively while Anand Pawar, who lost to Jayaram in the US Open quarter-finals, was the biggest gainer with a jump of 16 positions to world number 77.

In women's singles, Rio-bound Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu managed to hold on to their fifth and 10th spots respectively.

Besides, men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy still remained at the 21st spot even after their Canada Open win, while women's doubles combination of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa retained their 21st position.