KUALA LUMPUR: Men's singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia has surged to fourth in the world rankings, his best position in 16 months, despite an early exit from the Japan Open last week.
The 26-year-old Malaysian climbed two spots from sixth, a position he held for the past two weeks. This rise was due to the rankings drops of Denmark's Anders Antonsen and Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn.
The world ranking system evaluates the 10 best results of shuttlers over a 52-week period.
Antonsen and Kunlavut suffered significant losses in points earned from last year's Copenhagen World Championships.
Antonsen was a semi-finalist, while Kunlavut became world champion.
Antonsen slipped from third to sixth, while Kunlavut, the Paris Olympics silver medallist, dropped four spots to eighth.
Indonesia's Jonatan Christie and China's Li Shi Feng also benefitted from these shifts.
Jonatan rose from fifth to third, while Shi Feng moved from seventh to fifth.
China's Shi Yu Qi and Denmark's two-time Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen maintained their first and second rankings, respectively, holding a substantial point lead over the rest of the field.
For Zii Jia to return to his career-best second place, which he held for 11 weeks between October last year and January this year, he must maintain strong performances.
He has significant points to defend in October, particularly at the Arctic Open in Finland and the Denmark Open, where he was champion and runner-up, respectively, last year.
Ng Tze Yong remains the second-highest-ranked Malaysian men's singles player at 20th.
His position is locked at 18th due to ranking protection until his return from a back injury.
Leong Jun Hao, competing in the Korea Open this week, is the next best-ranked Malaysian, though he has slipped two spots to 29th.
Last week's Japan Open winners Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani remained 12th due to the significant gap between them and the current top 11 men's pairs.
Paris Olympics bronze medallists Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, the highest-ranked Malaysian pair, held their third spot for the fifth consecutive week.
Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun, Japan Open quarter-finalists last week, moved up one spot to 16th.
In the women's singles, Goh Jin Wei is the highest-ranked Malaysian at 31st.
Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah are world No. 9 in the women's doubles, while Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei also hold ninth in the mixed doubles standings.