The latest BWF world rankings are out! Shi Yuqi climbs 8 spots, while Sheng Xian drops to No. 106, and Xiao Yaqi makes a stunning leap of 27 places.
On January 30, Beijing time, the 2023 Indonesia Masters Super 500 came to a close, with China claiming 2 gold and 2 silver medals, Indonesia securing 2 gold and 1 silver, South Korea winning 1 gold, and Japan and Spain each taking home 1 silver medal.
The tour stop has concluded, sending the standings into further turmoil as the latest world rankings are released.
Men's Singles —
Antonsen continues to dominate effortlessly, and even though his 193 cm, 29-year-old physique prevents him from competing in three consecutive tournaments, he still holds a commanding lead of over 30,000 points over the world's No. 2 player.
The Top 10 saw Viktor Axelsen firmly holding onto the top spot, while the rest of the competition remained fiercely competitive. Kento Momota briefly claimed the No. 2 ranking for just one week before being knocked off by Jonatan Christie, who clinched his first-ever Super500 title—and indeed, his highest-level tour-level championship to date. Christie’s victory marked a personal career milestone, matching Kento’s impressive run from last week. Among today’s elite men’s singles players, aside from Kento Momota, Lee Zii Jia is arguably enduring the toughest stretch. Strangely, he doesn’t even have a coach—though it was actually Lee himself who decided to part ways with his previous mentor. Unfortunately, this decision has left him struggling, as he’s now been eliminated in the first round of three consecutive tournaments, followed by reaching the Round of 16 in the other two events.
Kunlavut missed this week after clinching victory at last week's India Open Super 750, where he defeated Viktor Axelsen to end the Danish star's impressive 13-match final winning streak. This triumph also saw Kunlavut climb to a career-high ranking of No. 6 in the world—unchanged this week—but he’ll again sit out next week’s Thailand Masters Super 300. Clearly, all badminton associations are prioritizing the protection of their top players ahead of the crucial Olympic qualifying tournaments. Meanwhile, Loh Kean Yew has gone over a year without lifting a title since his World Championship win in 2021, and he currently holds the No. 8 spot in the world rankings. As for Naraoka Koki, he’s now ranked No. 7 globally after failing to advance beyond the first round in back-to-back tournaments, likely due to the significant physical toll taken during his debut event.
China's Lu Guangzu remains at No. 10, while Zhao Junpeng drops one spot. Shi Yuqi advances to the semifinals, climbing 8 places in the rankings, whereas Li Shifeng falls three spots. Meanwhile, Weng Hongyang suffers a first-round exit for the third consecutive tournament, dropping another three places. If he fails to bounce back soon, he could fall out of the top 32 once points from his Korean Open title are deducted.
Women's Singles—
An Se-young has made it to the finals in three consecutive tournaments at the start of the new season, clinching two titles and finishing as runner-up once, pushing her ranking closer to world No. 1. Meanwhile, she’s already entered next week’s Thailand Masters Super 300—though it remains unclear whether she’ll withdraw or not. Still, her ultimate goal remains climbing to the top spot in the world rankings, a mission her coach, Sung Ji-hyun, has explicitly emphasized. On the other hand, Marin reached the final of a high-level tour event for only the second time since her comeback, gaining two spots in the rankings.
China's top badminton players secured three spots in the top 8, with Wang Zhiyi advancing to the semifinals and climbing one spot in the rankings. Han Yue remains at No. 11, while Zhang Yiman moved up one place.
Men's Doubles—
The top 6 remain unchanged. Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang earned one silver, one gold, and reached the round of 16 in the new season, dropping two spots in the rankings. He Jiteng and Zhou Haodong made history by reaching their first-ever high-level tour final, securing a runner-up finish with 7,800 ranking points—enough to replace (and deduct) their previous 3,000 points, propelling them up one spot in the standings. Meanwhile, Ren Xiangyu and Tan Qiang advanced to the round of 16, earning 3,600 ranking points to replace their earlier 2,660 points, climbing three places higher in the rankings.
Women's Doubles —
Fan Chen continues to hold a significant lead, while Yu Xian is absent, causing her ranking to climb one spot. Meanwhile, Zheng Na Yin/Kim Hye Jin have now held the world No. 3 position for just one week.
Liu Shengshu/Zhang Shuxian, who claimed the title in their debut, earned 9,200 championship points and climbed to No. 106 in the live rankings, with a virtual total of 18,400 points, placing them at No. 83 overall. Meanwhile, Tan Ning/Xia Yuting advanced to the quarterfinals, securing 5,040 points, moving up to No. 164 in the live standings, and now hold a virtual total of 10,080 points, ranking them 160th. Li Wenmei/Liu Xuanxuan also reached the quarterfinals, gaining 27 spots to sit at No. 66 in the rankings, while their virtual points now place them 37th overall.
Chairman Zhang Jun explains the new women's doubles pairing—
This approach is being pursued for two key reasons: First, we aim to boost the rankings of our younger players, enabling more of them to participate in Olympic qualifying events. In addition to the top eight players already competing, the women’s doubles lineup also includes the younger pairs Li Yijing/Luo Xumin and Tan Ning/Liu Shengshu. Currently, their biggest challenge is a lack of ranking points, which makes it difficult for them to register for higher-level tournaments. That’s why, during these two upcoming events, we’ve decided to pair the players with relatively higher rankings alongside those lower down the list, helping them accumulate crucial individual points. This strategy will primarily be tested over the next two competitions, ensuring it doesn’t significantly impact Zheng Yu/Zhang Shuxian’s overall standings. Second, we’re eager to continue exploring additional optimization opportunities by putting these pairings through real-match testing. After observing how the combinations of Du Yue/Xia Yuting and Liu Xuanxuan/Li Wenmei perform in the first two events—particularly since Liu Xuanxuan and Li Wenmei already have a solid foundation from their partnership at last year’s World Junior Championships—we’ll evaluate whether this new chemistry translates into stronger results. Meanwhile, the latter two events will serve as a critical platform to assess the potential of our younger, emerging duos, laying the groundwork for preparation ahead of the next Olympic cycle.
Mixed Doubles —
The top 9 remains unchanged—IELTS continues to stand alone as the clear leader.
At this tournament, the Chinese badminton team saw three new pairings make their debut: Wang Yilu/Du Yue, who are competing together for the first time; Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin and Cheng Xing/Chen Fanghui, both of whom are also stepping onto the tour circuit for the very first time. In the end, Huang Dongping/Feng Yanzhe claimed victory in their fifth tournament together as a partnership, clinching their first international title—and marking Feng Yanzhe's maiden career triumph on the global stage. As a result, their world ranking surged by 16 spots to No. 5, with a total virtual points tally of 70,900. Meanwhile, Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin secured the runner-up spot, climbing 27 places to No. 52 and now sitting at No. 25 in the virtual rankings. Wang Yilu/Du Yue advanced to the quarterfinals, currently ranked No. 174 in real-time and No. 156 in the virtual standings. Lastly, Cheng Xing/Chen Fanghui bowed out in the qualifying rounds but still managed to climb 9 spots to No. 86 overall.
Chairman Zhang Jun Explains the New Mixed-Doubles Pairing—
We have members from three generations—old, middle-aged, and young—in our mixed doubles team. We hope that after several months of teamwork and observation, more combinations will be ready to compete in the Olympic qualifying tournaments, allowing us to finalize the teams participating in the points race as soon as possible.
