Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth defeated Sri Lanka's Niluka Karunaratne of Sri Lanka in straight games to make it to the last-eight of Men's Singles badminton event at Commonwealth Games 2018. With this win, he also improved his ranking from third spot and became world number one.
In the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Rankings, Srikanth replaced Denmark's Viktor Axelsen. Srikanth has a total of 76,895 points in Men's Singles category.
This makes Srikanth first Indian male and only the secon India player after Saina Nehwal to reach the number one spot in world rankings.
Calling it a 'huge achievement for Srikanth and Indian badminton, his coach Pullela Gopichand said, "There has been a lot of talk about our women doing well, but now we will have a men's No.1. This will help Srikanth become more relaxed. Whatever happens from here, he will always know that he was ranked as the best in the world - that he has accomplished that goal. It will help him focus more on winning tournaments."
Srikanth won the mixed team gold for India at the ongoing 21st Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. He is also hot favourite to win the gold medal in Men's Singles event.
Last year, he became only the fourth shuttler in the world to win all four Super Series titles -- Indonesia, Australia, Denmark, and France.
