Neeraj Chopra rises to world No. 1 in World Athletics men's javelin throw rankings
The Indian javelin throw ace topped the ranking charts with 1455 points. The 25-year-old Chopra recently won the season-opening Doha Diamond League.
Athletics
Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra is the world No. 1 in the latest men's javelin throw rankings issued by the World Athletics on Monday.
Neeraj Chopra topped the charts with 1455 points, 22 ahead of Grenada’s Anderson Peters. The Indian javelin throw ace rose to world No. 2 on August 30, 2022, but was stuck behind Peters, the reigning world champion, since then.
In September last year, Neeraj Chopra won the Diamond League 2022 finals in Zurich, becoming the first Indian athlete to win the prestigious Diamond League trophy. However, he was out of action with an injury following the triumph in Zurich.
Neeraj Chopra, who holds the Indian national record in men’s javelin throw, returned to action at the season-opening Doha Diamond League on May 5 this year and finished first with a throw of 88.67m. Anderson Peters managed 85.88m to finish third at the Doha meet.
The No. 1 ranking will come as a boost for Neeraj Chopra, who will next compete at the FBK Games 2023 on June 4 in the Netherlands. He also confirmed his participation at the Paavo Nurmi Games 2023 in Turku, Finland, on June 13.
With the Paris 2024 Olympics approaching, the 2023 season promises to be a crucial one for Neeraj Chopra.
Besides defending his Diamond League crown and the Asian Games javelin gold medal at Hangzhou, Neeraj Chopra will also compete at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
The Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch, silver medallist from Tokyo 2020, is third in the latest rankings with 1,416 points followed by Germany’s Julian Webber. Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, the 2022 Commonwealth Games champion, completes the top five.
Rohit Yadav, world No. 15, and DP Manu, world No. 17, are the other Indian javelin throwers in the top 20.
World Athletics javelin throw top five rankings (men)
_As of May 16, 2023 _
- Neeraj Chopra (India) - 1,455 points
- Anderson Peters (Grenada) - 1,433 points
- Jakub Vadlejch (Czech Republic) - 1,416 points
- Julian Webber (Germany) - 1,385 points
- rshad Nadeem (Pakistan) - 1,306 points