
For the second time in a row, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become the top fitness influencer in the country followed by actor Akshay Kumar, and yoga guru Baba Ramdev. The new entrants on the list ‘Top 30 Health influencers for 2019’ also includes cricketer MS Dhoni, and actors Ranveer Singh, Kareena Kapoor, Tiger Shroff and Priyanka Chopra who made it to the top 10 spot.
Others who managed a spot in the list by California-based fitness technology venture GOQii are Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli and actor Deepika Padukone.
“This report is an effort to identify the most influential healthcare personalities in our country who have the power to make India healthy,” Vishal Gondal, CEO and founder GOQii, said in a statement.
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“Modi was instrumental in instituting the International Day of Yoga 2015, which is now observed globally. He is not only keen on improving India but keen on improving the health and fitness of Indians as well. Despite all the tasks at hand, the 68-year-old still manages to stay fit,” read the statement.
Kumar, who is a black belt in taekwondo is counted as India’s fittest celebrity. Even when he had interviewed the PM in the run-up to the Lok Sabha Elections in April 2019, the Padman actor had stressed on raising awareness about physical activity and fitness levels.
“Even with his hectic life, he manages to maintain his workout regime, occasionally adding new exercises to avoid boredom. He believes that one should devote their body to exercise for one hour in order to be fit,” the statement added.
The top 30 health influencers were selected from a list of 100 with the scoring system created on the following categories — followers on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube; number of Google news mentions and an estimate of how much each person’s career focuses on fitness and health. The data was collected in January-March period.
Here is the full list.
1. Narendra Modi
2. Akshay Kumar
3. Baba Ramdev
4. Virat Kohli
6. Deepika Padukone
7. Ranveer Singh
8. Kareena Kapoor
9. Tiger Shroff
10. Priyanka Chopra
11. Shilpa Shetty
13. Saina Nehwal
14. P V Sindhu
15. Sunil Chhetri
16. Sardara Singh
17. Milind Soman
18. Ranveer Allahbadia
19. Abhinav Mahajan
20. Jeet Selal
21. Luke Coutinho
22. Dr. Aashish Contractor
23. Sanjeev Kapoor
24. Mithali Raj
25. Natarajan Chandrasekaran
26. Mandira Bedi
27. Mary Kom
28. Kuntal Joisher
29. Divyanshu Ganatra
30. Dr. Naresh Trehan
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