Anil Kumar Prakash

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For other people named Anil Kumar, see Anil Kumar (disambiguation).

Sapper
Anil Kumar
Personal information
Nationality India
Born (1978-08-28) 28 August 1978 (age 45)
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 place 2000 Jakarta 100 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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
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[edit]

  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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c Pillai, Madhavankutty (2 October 2010). "The Fastest Indian". Open. Archived from the original on 4 October 2010. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
  6. ^ a b "The fastest Indian sprinter does not talk big, he simply performs". The Indian Express. 29 July 2000. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  7. ^ a b "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.

External links[edit]

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