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Aparna Popat climbs IBF rankings

Indian badminton ace Aparna Popat, with some consistent performances in the international meets, has climbed to a career-best world ranking of 20.

According to the latest world rankings released by the International Badminton Federation yesterday, India's top player Pullela Gopichand is ranked 37th in the men's singles.

The previous ranking of Aparna, national champion for the last two years, was 24, while that of Gopichand was 35.

Badminton Association of India executive president Prakash Padukone, commenting on the latest rankings, said that according to the realistic goals set for the players, Gopichand was to figure among the top 25 in the men's section, while Aparna among top 20.

He said, Aparna, who had made it ahead of schedule, should maintain the current ranking and try to be among top 15 by December this year.

"I would consider it a good achievement if she can make it to the world's top 12 and qualify to play in the year-ending World Grand Prix final in December 2000," Padukone said.

The former All England champion, in a statement, said the federation would aim to get at least two men's singles, two women's singles players and the top doubles pair, apart from Gopichand and Popat, to qualify for the Sydney Olympics in September 2000.

The other Indian players in IBF world rankings are:

Men's singles: Nikhil Kanetkar 86, Abhinn Shyam Gupta 94, Ajit Wijetilek 132, Sachin Ratti 160, Srikant Bakshi 183, Mangrish Palekar 190, Chetan Anand 209, Thomas Kurian 229 and Anuj Gupta 243.

Women singles: Neelima Choudary 85, Manjusha Kanwar 149, B R Meenakshi 183, P V V Lakshmi 209, Divya Ramesh 221, Sampada Shettye 232, Nirmala Kotnis 278 and Pooja Parekh 302.

Men's doubles: Jaseel Ismail and Vincent Lobo 55.

UNI