HISTORY SCRIPTED! Neeraj Chopra, first-ever Indian track and field athlete to be ranked World No. 1!
The ace Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra scripted history as he became the first Indian track and field athlete to be crowned World No.1.
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Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra became the world number one for the first time in his career in the latest men's javelin throw rankings issued by the World Athletics.
Chopra topped the charts with 1455 points, 22 ahead of Grenada's reigning world champion Anderson Peters (1433). Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic was third with 1416 points.
The 25-year-old Chopra rose to world number two on August 30 last year but was stuck behind Peters since then. In September last year, Neeraj Chopra won the Diamond League 2022 finals in Zurich, becoming the first Indian to win the prestigious trophy.
Rohit Yadav and DP Manu are two other javelin throwers who made it to the top 20 in the rankings with Rohit ranked world number 15 and Manu ranked world number 17.
Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar is the only other top Indian athlete to feature in the top 10 as he is ranked world number 6 in the long jump and Avinash Sable is ranked world rank 13 in the 3000m steeplechase.
Neeraj Chopra started the season with a win at Doha Diamond League on May 5 with a throw of 88.67m in the strong field of Anderson Peters and Jakub Vadlejch and Julian Weber. He will next compete at the FBK Games on June 4 in the Netherlands, followed by the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland, on June 13.