Saina slips to world No 6 in ranking

A series of inconsistent performance has taken a toll on Saina Nehwal`s ranking as the Indian badminton ace slipped to number six from four in the latest rankings.

New Delhi: A series of inconsistent performance has taken a toll on Saina Nehwal`s ranking as the Indian badminton ace on Thursday slipped to number six from four in the latest rankings.

Saina, who failed to defend her Singapore and Indonesia Super Series title this month, currently has 63246.5778 points in her kitty. Half-way through the year, The 21-year-old has just one title -- Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold -- and two runner-up finish to her name. In the last six months, Saina has tasted success but her defeats against lower-ranked players such as Japanese Ai Goto in the first round of Indian Open Super Series and then to world number 18 Inthanon Ratchanok of Thailand in Sudirman Cup have brought to the fore the inadequacies in her game.In Thailand Open last week, Saina lost to world number 16 Xuerui Li of China in the quarterfinals and then was knocked out in the second round in the Singapore open. Though the Indian shrugged off the disappointment by reaching the finals of the Indonesian Open, it was not enough to save her from slumping in her ranking.Saina had won three Super Series title last year -- Singapore Open, Indonesian Open and the Hong Kong Open – to end the season on a high. The girl from Hyderabad had reached her career-best international ranking of world number two in July last year. PTI