Sapper
Anil Kumar
Personal information
Nationality India
Born (1978-08-28) 28 August 1978
Alappuzha district, Kerala, India
Height1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in)[1]
Weight75 kg (165 lb; 11.8 st)
Military career
Allegiance India
Service/branch Indian Army
RankSapper
UnitMadras Engineer Group
Sport
CountryIndia
SportTrack and field
Event(s)100 metres, 200 metres
ClubServices
Achievements and titles
Personal bests100 m: 10.21 (Bangalore 2000) NR
200 m: 20.73 (Bangalore 2000)
Medal record
Representing  India
Men's athletics
Asian Championships
Silver medal – second place2000 Jakarta100 m

Sapper Anil Kumar Prakash (born 28 August 1978) is a retired Indian sprinter. He held the 100 metres national record of 10.30 s set at the National Circuit Athletic Meet held in New Delhi in 2005 which was broken in 2016.[2][3][4]

He previously held the National Record at 10.21 seconds.

Early life

Kumar was born on 28 August 1978 in Alappuzha district in the Indian State of Kerala.[5] He studied at T. K. Madhava Memorial College, Nangiarkulangara. He took up decathlon in his college days and later took to sprints inspired by the successes of the P. T. Usha.[6]

In 1994, he joined the Madras Engineer Group via sports quota. Running in the Army Championships the same year, he was timed at 10.30 seconds in the 100 metres heats on a handheld stopwatch, and attributing it to human error, a second was added to make it 11.30 seconds. In the semifinal and final, he was again timed at 10.30 seconds.[5] In 1996, at an event in Hyderabad, again with the handheld stopwatches, he was timed at 9.99 seconds, which however was not considered official and hence couldn't be attributed as a record. The "perplexed people" had to measure the track if it was really 100 metres.[5]

Professional career

Kumar's first big success came at National Open Championships in 1997 in Gandhinagar, when he broke Rajeev Balakrishnan's record of 100 metres to become the fastest man in India.[7] Injury kept him off the field for some time before success came again in 1999 at the Fifth National Games in Manipur when he clocked 10.58 s in the 100 metres and a 21.35 s in 200 metres.[6][8] In the same year on 15 August, Kumar broke the National record for 100 m when he clocked 10.33 s while finishing behind Sri Lanka’s Chinthaka De Soysa (10.29) (Sreelankan National record) in an International Circuit Meet held at Chennai. In 2000, he posted his personal best time of 10.21 s in Bangalore but in the absence of doping control the time was not ratified by the Athletics Federation of India.[9]

On 17 July 2000, Kumar broke the 200 metres National record with an effort of 20.73 s at the National Circuit Athletic Meet held in Bangalore. He erased the then National record of 21.04 s in the name of Ajay Raj Singh, set in the Lucknow inter-State meet in 1999.[3]

On 1 May 2002, in the National Circuit Athletic Meet at the Nehru Stadium in New Delhi, India's fastest runner equaled his own National record in 100 metres with a time of 10.33 s.[10] In the same month, Kumar came up with a commendable performance to win the 100 m dash in the second domestic circuit meet in Bangalore with an effort of 10.46 s.[7] In May 2004, he won the 200 m sprint in the Federation Cup Athletics Championships at the Nehru Stadium when he clocked 21.02 s.[11] A few weeks later he crowned again in the 200 m dash by clocking 20.84 s at the first ONGC National Athletics Circuit Meet in Delhi.[12]

He is currently a trainer at Sports Authority of India, Kollam.[13]

Achievements

YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
Representing  India
2000 Asian Championships Jakarta, Indonesia 2nd 100 m 10.35
2005 National Circuit Athletics Meet New Delhi, India 1st 100 m 10.30

References

  1. ↑ "Anil Kumar Prakash Biography and Statistics". Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2009.
  2. ↑ "Anil Kumar breaks the National 100-m record". The Times of India. 25 August 2005. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  3. 1 2 Nair, Avinash (18 July 2000). "Anil Kumar runs a one horse race". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  4. ↑ "Official Website of Athletics Federation of India: NATIONAL RECORDS as on 21.3.2009". Athletics Federation of INDIA. Archived from the original on 5 August 2009. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  5. 1 2 3 Pillai, Madhavankutty (2 October 2010). "The Fastest Indian". Open. Archived from the original on 4 October 2010. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
  6. 1 2 "The fastest Indian sprinter does not talk big, he simply performs". The Indian Express. 29 July 2000. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  7. 1 2 "Anil Kumar, Saraswathi emerge fastest". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 6 May 2002. Archived from the original on 20 October 2007. Retrieved 6 September 2009.
  8. ↑ "Anil Kumar emerges fastest". The Indian Express. 21 February 1999. Retrieved 6 September 2009.
  9. ↑ "Kumar improves Indian 100m record". International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF). Retrieved 6 September 2009.
  10. ↑ "Anil Kumar equals his own record". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 2 May 2002. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2009.
  11. ↑ "Anil Kumar steals the show". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 19 March 2004. Archived from the original on 1 May 2004. Retrieved 6 September 2009.
  12. ↑ "Binu attains Olympic qualification mark". Rediff.com. 15 April 2004. Retrieved 6 September 2009.
  13. ↑ "Rejected! 7 years after applying for job, Kerala Police reply to Olympian Anil Kumar". OnManorama. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
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