Saina Nehwal regains world number one ranking

Saina topped the cart with 82792 points.

She once again became the numero uno ranked player in the world in May after being the lone bright spot at the Sudirman Cup in an otherwise disappointing campaign for India, which saw them failing to go past the qualifying round of the tournaments. Chinese Taipei’s TAI Tzu Ying is third with 70200 points.

Despite losing the World Championships final in Jakarta on Sunday, ace Indian Saina Nehwal regained the top spot in women’s singles in the latest rankings of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) released on Thursday.

World No. 1 shuttler Saina Nehwal on Thursday signed an exclusive management contract with leading management and marketing company IOS Sports and Entertainment for a period of two years. She also defeated her past nemesis Wang Yihan on her way. Saina has been an inspiration for people across the globe and she is an global brand now. Tomar said the deal with her to get Rs 25 crore in two years would depend on her performance at the 2015 Rio Olympics as well as her ability to maintain her No. 1 ranking for as long as possible in this two year period. That was the former World No. 1 Spaniard’s second consecutive win over Saina in five career meetings. Neerav Tomar, managing director and chief executive of IOS Sports, said his firm has been working with Nehwal for the past few years but only on one-off deals. Saina, who had to settle with the silver medal after her 16-21, 19-21 defeat against the defending champion, created history by becoming the first Indian to reach the World Championship final. “She is one of the largest signings for IOS and the biggest star in India outside of cricket”.

Cricketer Suresh Raina, and Olympic medallists Mary Kom, Sushil Kumar and Vijender Singh are also managed by IOS.