New Delhi: Saina Nehwal's historic title triumph at Philippines Open has catapulted her to No 53 in world badminton rankings, a jump of 34 places.
Saina, who became the first Indian woman and the youngest Asian to win a four-star badminton Grand Prix in Manila last week, is now way ahead of two other Indians - Trupti Murgunde and Aparna Popat.
The 16-year-old from Hyderabad entered as an unseeded player in the tournament but showed guts to beat top players including world No 4 Xu Huwaein of Germany en route to her grand success.
The ranking would be a big boost for the Pullela Gopichand protege who is aiming to get into the top 50 by the end of Asian Circuit and has Singapore Open and Malaysian Open to go after losing out in the qualifiers of Indonesia Open this week.
Murgunde is placed at 88 while nine-time national champion Aparna Popat is one step below her in the latest rankings released by International Badminton Federation.
Badminton Association of India left out Murgunde and Popat out of the Asian circuit because of its recent policy of promoting youngsters.
But the decision would have hurt Murgunde the most as the 24-year-old made it to the quarter-finals of Asian Badminton Championship earlier this year.
In the men's charts Chetan Anand moved four places up and finds himself at 20th spot. National Champion Anup Sridhar is at 58 while Arvind Bhat occupies 61st position.
China's Lin Dan is at the top of men's singles rankings while Xie Xing Fang, aslo from China firmly held her top place in women's charts.
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