Sapper A sapper, also called a pioneer (military), pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefie ...

Anil Kumar Prakash (born 28 August 1978) is a retired Indian sprinter. He held the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

national record of 10.30 s set at the National Circuit Athletic Meet held in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

in 2005 which was broken in 2016. 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 Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. He studied at

T. K. Madhava Memorial College T. K. Madhava Memorial College is a general degree college located in Nangiarkulangara, Alappuzha district, Kerala. It was established in the year 1964. The college is affiliated with Kerala University. This college offers different courses in ...

, Nangiarkulangara. He took up

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

in his college days and later took to sprints inspired by the successes of the P. T. Usha. In 1994, he joined the

Madras Engineer Group Madras Engineer Group (MEG), informally known as the Madras Sappers, is an engineer group of the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army. The Madras Sappers draw their origin from the erstwhile Madras Presidency army of the British Raj. This ...

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. In 1996, at an event in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

, 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.

Professional career

Kumar's first big success came at National Open Championships in 1997 in

Gandhinagar Gandhinagar (, ) is the capital of the state of Gujarat in India. Gandhinagar is located approximately 23 km north of Ahmedabad, on the west central point of the Industrial corridor between Delhi, the political capital of India, and Mu ...

, when he broke Rajeev Balakrishnan's record of 100 metres to become the fastest man in India. 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. 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 Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

’s Chinthaka De Soysa (10.29) (Sreelankan National record) in an International Circuit Meet held at

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. In 2000, he posted his personal best time of 10.21 s in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

but in the absence of doping control the time was not ratified by the Athletics Federation of India. On 17 July 2000, Kumar broke the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

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. On 1 May 2002, in the National Circuit Athletic Meet at the Nehru Stadium in

, India's fastest runner equaled his own National record in

with a time of 10.33 s. 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. 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. 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 Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

. He is currently a trainer at

Sports Authority of India The Sports Authority of India (SAI) is the apex national sports body of India, established in 1982 by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports of Government of India for the development of sports in India. SAI has 2 Sports Academic institution ...

Kollam Kollam (), also known by its former name Quilon , is an ancient seaport and city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The city i ...

Achievements

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prakash, Anil Kumar Malayali people Athletes from Kerala Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for India People from Alappuzha district Indian male sprinters Living people 1978 births Recipients of the Arjuna Award Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for India South Asian Games gold medalists in athletics South Asian Games gold medalists for India