KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 — Men’s doubles professional shuttlers Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani have overtaken 2022 world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik as the country’s number one combination.

According to the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) world rankings, Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin climbed four spots to a career-high third place with 85,916 points.

This is following their remarkable runner-up finish in the BWF World Tour Finals 2024 which concluded in Hangzhou, China, on Sunday.

Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin, making their World Tour Finals debut, went down fighting 17-21, 21-17, 11-21 to Denmark’s Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in a thrilling title showdown.

Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin had earlier bagged three World Tour titles this season, namely the Japan Open (Super 750), China Open (Super 1000) and Arctic Open (Super 500).

Meanwhile, Astrup-Rasmussen surged two places to take the top spot in the rankings, with 95,003 points, displacing China’s 2024 Paris Olympic silver medallists Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang, who slipped to second place with 93,018 points.

Aaron-Wooi Yik, the 2024 Paris Olympic bronze medallists, went down one spot to sixth place with 82,615 points.

In the mixed doubles category, top national pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei also achieved a career-high ranking when they moved up from eighth to sixth place with 73,940 points, following their runner-up finish at the World Tour Finals in Hangzhou.

National mixed doubles professional duo Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie moved up to seventh spot from 10th with 71,470 points, while China’s Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping remained atop the rankings with 98,700 points.

Malaysia’s men’s singles professional ace Lee Zii Jia continued his steady improvement by moving from eighth to sixth place with 79,016 points as China’s Shi Yu Qi, the 2024 Paris Olympic gold medallist, still leads the rankings with 103,015 points.

Malaysians Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah stayed in sixth place in the women’s doubles rankings for the fifth consecutive week with 79,016 points, a long way behind China’s Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning, who lead the way with 102,746 points. South Korean star An Se Young continued to dominate the women’s singles rankings with 109,267 points, with Malaysia’s independent shuttler Goh Jin Wei trailing in 43rd place with 33,898 points. — Bernama