File photo of Malvika Bansod (TOI Photo)

NAGPUR: Malvika Bansod scaled a new high in the latest world badminton rankings on Tuesday. The 23-year-old star Nagpur shuttler moved five places up to her career-best 23rd rank among the women’s singles shuttlers across the globe.
This makes Malvika only the third Indian woman shuttler, after legendary Saina Nehwal and two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, to break into the top 25 players in the globe.
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“I have worked very hard to reach my career best so far, the BWF rank 23. I still have a long way to go to make our nation proud. I am very grateful to my coaches, sponsors, family and the grace of the almighty. A big thanks to the ones who believed in me and bigger thanks for the ones who challenged me to try better.” Malvika told TOI from Basel, where she will be playing the Swiss Open.
In the rankings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF), Malvika jumped from 28th to the 23rd position with a total of 46,802 points. For her pre-quarterfinal entry in the All England Championships, Malvika gained 4,800 points to reach her career-best ranking.
Sindhu’s first round exit in the All England Championships, dropped the India No.1 to the 17th position with a total of 53,790 points.
With this latest ranking update, both Sindhu and Malvika continue as the best two Indian women shuttlers. Anupama Upadhyaya (43rd position), Rakshitha Sree (45) and Aakarshi Kashyap (48) are the other Indian shuttlers in the top-50 of the world.
If both Sindhu and Malvika win their two outings in Basel, Switzerland, the top two Indian shuttlers could face off in a clash of two generations in the women’s singles quarterfinals. In the opening round Malvika will face Canada’s world No.20 Michelle Li. In their only face off, Malvika had suffered a 18-21, 22-20, 9-21 defeat at the German Open in 2022.