Neeraj, Ajaz, Ashwin, Max - Top 21 male sports stars in the year 2021

Sports in 2021 happened at a rapid pace With the cloud of the pandemic looming around sportspersons faced challenges in mental emotional and physical terms apart from onfield happenings But some of them managed to overcome all sorts of obstacles and be great in their pursuit of sporting excellence As we step into the new year we look at the top 21 male sports performers of the previous year1 Neeraj Chopra AthleticsIf there was a moment in Indian sports that will forever remain etched in the mind it was star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra winning the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics Chopra became only the second Indian after shooter Abhinav Bindra to win individual gold at the Olympics Chopras throw of 8758m in the second round of the final all but sealed Indias firstever Olympics medal in track and field sending the nation into a state of frenzy2 Bajrang Punia WrestlingHours before Chopra won the gold medal in mens javelin throw Bajrang Punia won the bronze medal in mens freestyle 65kg category after defeating Daulet Niyazbekov of Kazakhstan in the Tokyo Olympics Punia seeded second in his event had to face a 512 defeat to Azerbaijans Haji Aliyev in the semifinals But in the bronze medal bout Punia earned Indias sixth medal in the mega event with an 80 victory in the bronze medal match despite having suffered a knee injury weeks before the Olympics began3 Ravi Dahiya WrestlingWhen the spotlight was firmly on Bajrang Punia to spearhead Indias campaign at the Tokyo Olympics Ravi Dahiya managed to steal the thunder from him In the semifinal of the mens 57kg freestyle event Dahiya was trailing 92 and with less than a minute to go against Kazakhstans Nurislam Sanayev he spectacularly turned the bout on its head and pinned his opponent down thus winning by fall In the gold medal match Dahiya couldnt replicate the semifinal success against Russian Olympic Committees Zavur Uguev taking a silver medal after losing by 474 PR Sreejesh HockeyOne of the vital cogs in the wheel of the Indian mens hockey team winning an Olympics medal after 41 years Sreejesh delivered the goods when it mattered the most In the tournament he made numerous saves but the one which ensured Indias bronzemedal finish at the podium was the most important With seven seconds left for the final hooter to blow Sreejesh saved a dragflick from Germanys Lukas Windfeder on a penalty corner to clinch a medal for India in hockey His picture of sitting at the goalpost after the bronze medal thriller match ended was one of the heartening pictures from Indias campaign in Tokyo5 Sumit Antil Para AthleticsOne of the most memorable performances by an Indian athlete in the Paralympics Antil won gold in the mens javelin F6444 category final with a massive world record throw of 6855m at Tokyo The 22yearold bettered his own previous world record during the competition Antil was consistent in the final of the event recording throws of 6695m 6808m 6527m 6671m and 6855m In his six throws he beat his own previous world record thrice6 Pramod Bhagat Para BadmintonLiving up to his topseed billing in the competition Bhagat added to Indias medal tally in the Tokyo Paralympics by winning the gold medal in the mens singles SL3 event The Odishabased shuttler defeated Daniel Bethell of Great Britain 2114 and 2117 to win the gold medal In the process Bhagat a twotime world champion in his category became the first Indian to win a gold medal for India in para badminton competition in the Paralympics history7 Krishna Nagar Para BadmintonThe Jaipurbased para shuttler clinched Indias second gold medal in the Tokyo Paralympics after his compatriot Pramod Bhagat had earlier won a gold medal in the SL3 event Nagar seeded second in the competition beat Chu Man Kai of Hong Kong 2117 1621 and 2117 in the mens singles SH6 final After he won the gold medal Nagar jumped into coach Gaurav Khannas lap making for a heartwarming moment from Indias campaign at the Tokyo Paralympics8 Manish Narwal Para ShootingThough India couldnt get a single medal from shooting in the Olympics the Paralympics ensured that the country will get some medals from the sport One of them was para shooter Manish Narwal The 19yearold who has a congenital impairment to his right hand and cant even raise it won the gold medal in the P4 Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 event with a total of 2182 to make his Paralympics debut a memorable one9 Kidambi Srikanth BadmintonAfter missing the cut for Tokyo Olympics Srikanth clinched a historic silver medal in the 2021 World Badminton Championships after a 1521 and 2022 defeat to Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the final of mens singles Srikanths silver is the best ever performance by an Indian in the event of the prestigious tournament A former world number one Srikanth bettered the past efforts of legendary Prakash Padukone bronze medal in 1983 B Sai Praneeth bronze medal in 2019 and Lakshya Sen bronze medal in this edition whom he had defeated in the semifinals10 Ajaz Patel CricketThe New Zealand leftarm spinner achieved a very rare feat in Test cricket dismissing all 10 batters in an innings in the second Test against India at Mumbai the city of his birth The 33yearold Patel with his spell of 10119 on day two of the second Test became the third ever bowler after Jim Laker and Anil Kumble to achieve the rarest of rare feat in the cricketing world Patel aptly called his achievement The stars have aligned for me11 Joe Root CricketEven though Root the captain had an underwhelming year Root the batter had an incredible time with the bat in Test cricket Root ended 2021 as the highest rungetter in Test cricket and surpassed many greats to become the thirdhighest runscorer in a calendar year in the history of Test cricket Root amassed 1708 runs at an average of 61 in 2021 sitting just behind Pakistans Mohammad Yousuf 1788 runs in 2006 at 9933 and West Indies legend Vivian Richards 1710 runs in 1976 at 90 The 30yearold had six hundreds and four halfcenturies including two double hundreds in Galle and Chennai12 Mohammad Rizwan CricketBefore the start of 2021 Mohammad Rizwans record in T20I was modest comprising just one halfcentury But this year Rizwan turned the tables spectacularly becoming the first batter to breach the 1000run mark in a calendar year in T20I cricket In 26 innings Rizwan has scored 1326 runs at an average of 7366 including a century and 12 fifties On the way to such jawdropping numbers Rizwan also became the first batter to score tenplus fifties and hit hundredplus fours in one calendar year of T20I cricket Such was his determination of scoring runs throughout the year that being hospitalised due to a severe chest infection before the semifinal against Australia in Mens T20 World Cup didnt stop him from reaching another fifty13 Ravichandran Ashwin CricketThe leading wickettaker in Test cricket this year has been putting up an impactful show with the ball and bat He began 2021 with a resilient 128ball 29 to draw the Sydney Test against Australia alongside Hanuma Vihari Ashwin was in full form in the home series against England picking 32 wickets in four matches at an average of 1472 while scoring 189 runs with the bat earning him Player of the Series award Despite not playing a single Test in a series against England Ashwin bagged another Player of the Series award at home this time against New Zealand The offspinner picked 14 wickets in two matches with an average of 1136 while contributing some runs with the bat The year also saw him make a comeback to T20I cricket and have impactful performances with the ball14 Axar Patel CricketIf there was a debutant who made an immediate impact in Test cricket it was leftarm spinner Axar Patel Since his debut Test against England in Chennai Patel has been a force to reckon with at home Tests for India In the series against England where he left the batters in a trance Patel picked up 27 wickets in three matches at an average of 1059 including four fiewicket hauls Though he didnt get to play when India went to England Patel got a chance in the series against New Zealand picking up nine wickets in two matches at an average of 156715 Max Verstappen Formula 1The Dutchman was the toast of the Formula 1 world when he won the title decider at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi edging his rival Lewis Hamilton by a very narrow margin It was a very thrilling win for Verstappen who was behind Hamilton throughout the race But once the safety car came into play and then got out for the final lap Verstappen with his fresher tyres overtook Hamilton at turn five and clinched the title After clinching his firstever World Championship title Verstappen was recently voted by F1s team principals as the number one driver of 2021 in the annual poll In 2021 Verstappen had 18 podium finishes the most by a driver in the season16 Novak Djokovic TennisThe Serbian won three Grand Slam titles in the Australian Open French Open and Wimbledon surpassed Roger Federer for most weeks on world number one position and went past Pete Sampras record of sixyear end number one finishes Outside these achievements Djokovic had chances for a Golden Slam but failure to win a gold medal in mens singles at the Tokyo Olympics and losing in the final of the US Open to Daniil Medvedev meant he couldnt complete the rare feat Still Djokovic had a great year in tennis17 Caeleb Dressel SwimmingThe star swimmer was selected as a cocaptain for the USA mens swimming team in the Tokyo Olympics alongside Ryan Murphy Dressel was at a gold rush in Tokyo collecting five medals to be at the top of the podium His first gold came in the 4x100m freestyle relay He then went on to establish two new Olympics Records in 50m and 100m freestyle He signed off from the mega event by setting two world record timings in 100m butterfly and 4x100m medley relay By winning five gold medals in Tokyo Dressel became the fourth male swimmer from the USA to achieve the feat in Olympics history after Mark Spitz Matt Biondi and Michael Phelps18 Max Whitlock Artistic GymnasticsThe artistic gymnast from Great Britain defended his gold medal in the mens pommel horse which he had first claimed in Rio Olympics 2016 The gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics with a score of 15583 gave him his third medal in the event he had a bronze in London 2012 and his sixth overall at the Olympics making him the most successfulever gymnast on pommel horse and from Great Britain19 Ma Long Table TennisThe ace table tennis player from China reiterated his status as one of the greats of the game by defending his mens singles medal from Rio Olympics 2016 In an AllChina final against compatriot Fan Zhendong Long the world number one prevailed 42 114 1012 118 119 311 and 117 In the process of defeating Zhendong Long The Dragon became the most decorated male table tennis player in the history of the Olympics with another gold medal from the mens team event taking the total of gold medals from the Olympics to five20 David Warner CricketWarner began 2021 by rushing from a groin injury to play in two Tests against India making scores of 5 13 1 and 48 Warner faced misery in IPL 2021 when he was removed as the captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad as the franchise won just one out of their six matches After the second half of the tournament resumed in the UAE Warner was unable to get runs and was dropped from the playing eleven altogether In the warmup matches Warner made only a duck and two But as the Super 12 stage began Warner came into his own scoring 289 runs from seven innings at an average of 4816 including three halfcenturies His efforts meant Australia clinched its maiden Mens T20 World Cup title and Warner was adjudged as the Player of the Tournament21 Kevin Durant BasketballApart from signing a fouryear 198 million extension with the Brooklyn Nets and dishing out performances in the NBA Durant led USA to a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics USA didnt have best of the starts to the campaign losing to France But Durant took charge of the team and ensured that USA came on top when it met France in the final He was the only player from team USA to average more than 20 points in every match and in the final scored 29 points with six rebounds and three assists During the course of the Olympics Durant broke Carmelo Anthonys record of most career points having 435 points in three Olympics appearances surpassing Anthonys 336 from four Olympics appearances Durant also joined Anthony for being the only threetime gold medal winner in USAs mens basketball Olympics historyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for the dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the contents in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever