MySQL database selecting athlete data requires position - php

Question

I am selecting data from a database and displaying it on the page.
One useful value which is not saved in the database is the $position.
It is useful to show the position of each athlete, here as shown I just display an increasing $i value.
The code shown below ORDERS BY run points. The problem is when sorting the list say by something else such as ORDER BY athlete ASC the position allocated to each athlete doesn't move with the athlete.
$selectproduct = mysqli_query($link, "SELECT `athlete`,`reference`,SUM(`Run Points`) AS 'Run Points',COUNT(`eventID`) AS 'num_runs',`Volunteer Points`,`location`,`Gender pos` FROM `Events` WHERE `Gender`='$Gender' AND `location`='$location' GROUP BY `reference` ORDER BY `Run Points` DESC");
while ($rowGetDetails = mysqli_fetch_array($selectproduct)){
$reference=$rowGetDetails['reference'];
$athlete=$rowGetDetails['athlete'];
$points=$rowGetDetails['Run Points'];
$num_runs=$rowGetDetails['num_runs'];
$position=$i;
echo '<tr>';
echo'<td>';
echo $athlete;
echo '</td>';
echo'<td>';
echo $num_runs;
echo '</td>';
echo'<td>';
echo $points;
echo '</td>';
echo '</tr>';
$i=$i+1;
}
When sorting by something else such as athlete ASC in the $selectproduct it still gives $postition as number 1 for the first athlete in the list with a name beginning with A when that is not the athlete with the most points.
There are other options for $selectproduct such as sorting by athlete ASC as below:
$selectproduct = mysqli_query($link, "SELECT `athlete`,`reference`,SUM(`Run Points`) AS 'Run Points',COUNT(`eventID`) AS 'num_runs',`Volunteer Points`,`location`,`Gender pos` FROM `Events` WHERE `Gender`='$Gender' AND `location`='$location' GROUP BY `barcode` ORDER BY `athlete` ASC"

Answer 1

Just assign $i value outside the loop;
$selectproduct = mysqli_query($link, "SELECT `athlete`,`reference`,SUM(`Run Points`) AS 'Run Points',COUNT(`eventID`) AS 'num_runs',`Volunteer Points`,`location`,`Gender pos` FROM `Events_08052017_withdate` WHERE `Gender`='$Gender' AND `location`='$location' GROUP BY `reference` ORDER BY `Run Points` DESC");
$i = 1;
while ($rowGetDetails = mysqli_fetch_array($selectproduct)){
$reference=$rowGetDetails['reference'];
$athlete=$rowGetDetails['athlete'];
$points=$rowGetDetails['Run Points'];
$num_runs=$rowGetDetails['num_runs'];
$position=$i;
echo '<tr>';
echo'<td>';
echo $athlete;
echo '</a>';
echo '</td>';
echo'<td>';
echo $num_runs;
echo '</td>';
echo'<td>';
echo $points;
echo '</td>';
echo '</tr>';
$i=$i+1;
}
try query something like this may be its works for you
SET #rank=0;
SELECT #rank := #rank + 1 AS ranking, t.avg, t.name
FROM(SELECT avg(students_signatures.score) as avg, students.name as name
FROM alumnos_materia
JOIN (SELECT #rownum := 0) r
left JOIN students ON students.id=students_signatures.id_student
GROUP BY students.name order by avg DESC) t