Star long jumper Anju Bobby George, ranked sixth in the world, and United States-based men's discus thrower Vikas Gowda are miles ahead of their compatriots in the latest rankings of Indian athletes.
Anju, preparing to defend her bronze medal at Helsinki World Championships, tops the list of women long jumpers following her 6.47 metres effort at the Stockholm Super Grand Prix last week.
Following Anju, who is struggling to match her career-best performance of 6.83 metres, at the Athens Olympics, are Tamil Nadu's K Revathy and Kalpana Das, who both have a best of 5.94m, in the list of top Indian athletes released by the Athletics Federation of India on Monday.
The 22-year-old Gowda, who is pursuing his studies in the US and ranked 30th in the latest IAAF world rankings, came up with a season's best performance of 64.69m in Charlotte, USA, on April 2. In second place is Hungary-trained Anil Kumar Sangwan's 56.33m.
The third Indian in the team for Helsinki, Neelam Jaswant Singh, ranked 25th in the world, is second in the women's discus rankings with her 60.65m effort at Patiala. Topping the list is Harwant Kaur, who touched 62.89m at the Asian Grand Prix in Singapore in June.
The other toppers included Busan Asian Games gold medallist Sunita Rani (women's 5000m and 10,000m); Anil Kumar, who tops the men's 100 and 200m and Ghamanda Ram (men's 800 and 1500m).
