INDIA shuttler Priyanshu Rajawat, 21, climbed three places to achieve his career-best ranking of World No. 28 following his maiden semi-final finish in a Super 500 tournament—the Australian Open—in Sydney last week. But he is dejected over not being able to defeat HS Prannoy, his training partner at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy (PGBA) in Hyderabad.

Rajawat went down 18-21, 12-21 in the semi-final at the Australian Open after his quarter-finals win (21-13, 21-8) over former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth. This season, Rajawat has managed to stretch World No. 2 Anthony Ginting, World No. 4 Kodai Naraoka and Lakshya Sen to three games.