New Delhi: Indian team cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was ahead of many international sports personalities in the list of richest athletes a few days ago in the Forbes magazine, has once again made his presence felt as one of the most marketable sportspersons of the world as he has been rated 16th in the list by a British monthly SportsPro. Making an entry into the list is another Indian MC Marykom, who has been ranked 38th.
Earlier Dhoni had pipped the likes of 'Sprint King' Usain Bolt, tennis ace Novak Djokovic and team mate Sachin Tendulkar in the latest list of world's 100 richest sportspersons, released by the Forbes magazine.
According to the list, Dhoni is ranked 31st, which is way ahead of Djokovic (62nd), Bolt (63rd) and Tendulkar (78th). Star footballers Wayne Rooney and Fernando Torres are also behind Dhoni in the latest list.
Boxing champion Floyd Mayweather topped the list with a total earnings of USD 85 million while Fillipino pugilist Manny Pacquiao, with earnings of USD 62 million, and golf legend Tiger Woods, with USD 59.4 million, are second and third.
Meanwhile MC Mary Kom, already a five time world boxing champion, an Arjuna awardee, a Padmashree, a Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardee, a brand ambassador for the AIBA and the lone Indian female boxer to have qualified for the London Olympics, has been rated as the 38th most marketable athlete in the world by SportsPro, the world’s leading magazine on the business of sport.
The magazine has ranked athletes from the across the world on the basis of their marketing potential over the next three years and have taken into factors like age, home market, charisma, crossover appeal and value for money. Mary is the only Indian athlete other than MS Dhoni to have featured in this respected list, reflective of her potential as a brand ambassador after her potential gold in the London Olympics.
The list, headed by Brazilian footballer Neymar, includes some of the world’s best athletes such as Lionel Messi (3), Usain Bolt (4), Christiano Ronaldo (5), Rory McIlroy (2), Maria Sharapova, Novak Djokovic, Lewis Hamilton and many more.
Mary, currently training in Pune, said “I thank SportsPro for considering me among the top 50 marketable athletes in the world, which is such an illustrious list containing the names of so many of the world’s most notable sportspeople. I am going to continue to focus on the Olympic gold and will wait to see if the potential that SportPro has identified can be made to come to fruition after the Olympics”.
