The top-10 of Men's singles category remains unchanged in the latest badminton rankings, which was released on 2 February with Malaysian giant Lee Chong Wei leading the pack. India's PV Sindhu has moved three spots in the Women's singles rankings, which has Taiwan's Tai Tzu Ying at the top.
Lee, the three-time Olympic silver medallist, has not played an international match since BWF Dubai World Superseries Finals 2016 and also did not defend his title at the Malaysia Masters, which was held between 17 and 22 January. The 34-year-old, who has been quite vocal about retirement and plans for future in the recent past, will begin the season at All England Championships in March.
Denmark's Jan O Jorgensen, who finished the 2016 season with a title at China Open, tails Lee at the second spot while compatriot Viktor Axelsen, who won the Dubai Super Series Finals in 2016, is in the third spot. South Korea's Son Wan Ho is also among the top five shuttlers and reigning Olympic champion Chen Long is China's highest-ranked Men's singles player at the fifth spot.
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Two-time Olympic gold medallist Lin Dan, who has confirmed his participation for this year's All England, has retained his sixth spot. Notably, the Super Dan, shortly after Roger Federer clinched his 18th Grand Slam title, congratulated the Swiss and reportedly spoke of his intentions of getting a 20th Superseries title.
In the Women's singles category, Tai, who won consecutive titles in 2016 at Hong Kong and Dubai, has a comfortable lead over second-placed Carolina Marin. Meanwhile, Sindhu, who started 2017 on a high by winning Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold tournament at home last month, has leapfrogged China's Li Xeurei and Japanese teenager Akane Yamaguchi to sixth spot.
There is good news for Malaysia in the Men's doubles category as well as their in-form pairing of Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong have also held onto their top-spot. After winning the season-ending Superseries Finals last year, the Rio Olympic silver medallists played against each other at the recently-concluded Premier Badminton League in India.
