KUALA LUMPUR: It pays to excel in a Super 1000-rated event, and men's pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani were well rewarded for finishing second at the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) last week.
The national pair climbed four spots to No. 15 in the latest world rankings today, marking their highest position in 13 months.
It appears that they will soon surpass Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi as the national No. 2 pair.
In contrast, professionals Yew Sin-Ee Yi dropped two places to No. 14 after failing to defend the significant points earned from their runner-up finish at last year's BAC in Dubai. This represents their lowest ranking since November 2021.
Buoyed by this significant rise, Sze Fei and Izzuddin will surely set their sights on returning to the top 10, a milestone they achieved in December 2022 when they reached a career-best No. 9.
Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik remained the country's highest-ranked pair at No. 5.
Despite picking up some points from last week's semi-final outing at the Asian meet, it was not enough for them to overtake Denmark's Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen at No. 4 after the latter won the European Championships in the same week.
In the men's singles, Lee Zii Jia returned to the top 10 after dropping out two weeks ago.
While Zii Jia did accumulate some points in his quarter-final run at the BAC, it's notable that his resurgence was partly due to Loh Kean Yew's inability to defend his runner-up points from last year's event.
Kean Yew paid a heavy price for his first-round defeat against Japan's Kenta Nishimoto.
Ng Tze Yong, who has been absent from competitions since February due to a back injury, maintained his position in the top 20, holding onto the No. 18 spot for the fifth successive week.
Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah (No. 14), Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei (No. 9) and Goh Jin Wei (No. 32) all retained their positions as Malaysia's highest-ranked shuttlers in the women's doubles, mixed doubles and women's singles categories respectively.