Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra tops the world rankings leader

Leaders Online Desk: Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Neeraj Chopra has become the country’s first javelin thrower to become the world’s number one javelin thrower. No player in the country had reached number one till date. Neeraj is ranked first with 1455 points in the rankings released by World Athletics. He edged world champion Anderson Peters of Granada by 22 points. Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Jakob Wadledge of Czech Republic is third with 1416 points.

Neeraj ranked second for eight months

The 25-year-old Neeraj was ranked second in the world as of 30 August 2022. Peters was the world’s top-ranked javelin thrower, but he leapfrogged Peters after winning the gold medal in Doha on May 5 with 88.67m. Peters finished third in Doha with a javelin throw of 85.88m. Neeraj also won the final of the Diamond League held in Zurich (Switzerland) in September last year. Neeraj, who set a national record of 89.94m, will now look to top the world rankings at the Fanny Blankers Koen Games to be held in the Netherlands on June 4. He will then play in the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku (Finland) on June 13. He had won a silver medal there last year.

Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Yakub Valdez of Czech Republic is third, European champion Julian Weber of Germany is fourth and Birmingham Commonwealth Games gold medalist Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan is fifth. India’s Rohit Yadav (15) and DP Manu (17) are in the top 20.