Lee Chong Wei loses world number one ranking, Chen Long slips out of top 10

South Korea's Son Wan Ho claims top spot for the first time in his career.

Lee Chong Wei
Lee has been producing positive results at ongoing Sudirman Cup campaign Reuters

Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei has lost the top spot in Men's singles badminton rankings to South Korea's Son Wan Ho, according to Badminton World Federation rankings, updated on 25 May.

Son now has 1007 ranking points more than Chong Wei but the latter is expected to reclaim the top spot when the rankings get updated next week as the Malaysian will get 10% of his points only for entering the ongoing Sudirman Cup in Gold Coast, Australia, according to Badzine.

Son has not won a tournament since he clinched glory at Korea Masters last December. The 29-year-old, who finished as runner-up at Korea Open and Denmark Open last season, has struggled in 2017, with first-round exits at All England Championships and India Open.

However, he reached the semi-final of Malaysia Superseries Premier only to lose to eventual champion Lin Dan. Notably, the change in rankings came into effect after ranking points gained by players in 2016 Thomas Cup was removed.

Chen Long slips out of top-10

While Chong Wei has dropped to the second spot, Denmark's Viktor Axelsen has retained the third spot. Reigning Olympic champion Chen Long slipped below the top-10 for the first time since 2010 despite winning last month's Badminton Asia Championships. Two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan, who won Malaysia Open Superseries last month, has also dropped two places to the ninth spot.

All England runner-up Shi Yuqi continues to be China's top-ranked player and the 21-year-old has leapfrogged Denmark's Jan O Jorgensen to the fourth spot. Chou Tien Chen is the only Chinese Taipei player in the top-10 at six while India Open semi-finalist Ng Ka Long has moved three places to seventh spot.

Tai continues to reign supreme

There was little change to Women's singles rankings as Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying, who has won five Superseries titles on the trot, retained her top spot with reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin at the second and Akane Yamaguchi of Japan at third spots.

However, Rio silver medallist PV Sindhu slipped a place to fifth, letting South Korea's Sung Ji Hyun move up to fourth. Among notable movers was reigning world junior champion Chen Yufei as she climbed three placed to eighth on the rankings.

This article was first published on May 25, 2017
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