NEW DELHI: Kidambi Srikanth has entered the top ten of the BWF men's singles rankings for the first time in ten months, moving up to three spots to eighth place in the latest updated rankings.This comes less than a week after Srikanth beat the world and Olympic champion Chen Long in straight games 22-20, 21-6 to claim the Australian Open Super Series, which followed his 21-11, 21-19 success over Japan's Kazumasa Sakai in the Indonesia Open final the previous Sunday.This made him the first Indian badminton player to win consecutive Super Series titles.The 24-year-old had last reached the top ten in October 2016, a couple months after he reached the quarter-finals at the Rio Olympics. His career-high ranking remains No 3, which was achieved in June 2015.In an exclusive interview to TOI Sports on Wednesday, Srikanth termed this the best badminton of his career while vowing that there is much more to come.Since returning home to Hyderabad on Monday, Srikanth - a pupil of Indian badminton great Pullela Gopichand - has been promised a cash prize or Rs 50 lakhs by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, as well as an offer of a Group 1 officer post as well.The 24-year-old earlier this year was the recipient of the Times of India Sports Award for Badminton Player of the Year [ People's Choice

Source: Times of India June 29, 2017 10:07 UTC