Anup Kumar is an Indian former professional

Kabaddi Kabaddi is a contact team sport. Played between two teams of seven players, the objective of the game is for a single player on offence, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, touch out as many of their ...

player and Kabaddi Coach of PKL Team Puneri Paltan. He was a member of the

India national kabaddi team The Indian National Kabaddi Team represents India in international men's kabaddi competitions. The team is by far the most successful national kabaddi side of any country, winning gold medals at the Asian Games in 1990 (the first year the sport ...

that won Asian gold medals in 2010 and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, one South Asian gold medal in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

and the

2016 Kabaddi World Cup The 2016 Kabaddi World Cup was the third edition of the Kabaddi World Cup (Standard style), standard-style Kabaddi World Cup. It was organised by the International Kabaddi Federation and contested from 7 to 22 October 2016 in Ahmedabad, India. ...

. He was the captain of the Indian National Kabaddi Team. He spent five years with

U Mumba U Mumba (MUMBAI) is a Kabaddi team based in Mumbai, Maharashtra that plays in the Pro Kabaddi League. The franchise is currently led by Surinder singh, and will be coached by Anil Chaprana, coach of Army Kabbadi team. The team is owned by U ...

and later moved to

Jaipur Pink Panthers Jaipur Pink Panthers (JPP) is a professional kabaddi team which belongs to Pink City of India Jaipur, competes in Pro Kabaddi League which is a professional Kabaddi league in India. The team is currently led by Sunil Kumar Malik and coached by ...

. In 2012, the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

conferred the Arjuna Award on him for his achievements in the sport. He is employed as a Deputy Commissioner of Police in his native State of

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land a ...

. On 19 December 2018, he announced his retirement from kabbadi.

Early life

Kumar, born and brought up in

Palra, Gurgaon, Haryana Palra is a village in the Gurgaon district of Haryana, India. It has a population of about 2803 persons living in around 507 households Palra is from its Mandal Main Town Sohna. Palra is located from its district main city Gurgaon. It is locate ...

, is the son of Ransingh Yadav, and Ballo Devi. He started playing

as a pastime during his schooldays. In April 2005, he joined

CRPF The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is a federal police organisation in India under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of the Government of India. It is one among the Central Armed Police F ...

as a constable. He represented India for the first time at the

2006 South Asian Games The 2006 South Asian Games (also known as the 10th South Asian Games) were held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 18 August to 28 August 2006, in the Sugathadasa Stadium with more than 2000 sportspersons competing in the record 20 disciplines of Sport ...

in Sri Lanka.

Pro Kabaddi League

U Mumba

2014

He was captain of the

team in the 2014 Pro Kabaddi League. He won the Most Valuable Player award in the first season of the league, leading his team to the finals where they lost to

. He scored 155 raid points in 16 matches, to become one of the most successful raider of Pro Kabaddi.

2015

He led U Mumba to their maiden Pro Kabaddi title in 2015 in which he finished the season with 74 raid points. They defeated Bengaluru Bulls in the final.

2016

U Mumba reached the final where they lost against

Patna Pirates Patna Pirates (PTP) is a kabaddi team based in Patna, Bihar that plays in the Pro Kabaddi League. The team is led by Neeraj Kumar and coached by Ravi Shetty. Their home ground is the Patliputra Sports Complex. The Pirates are the most succes ...

by a margin of only 2 points. This was the third time when they played the final. A player in his team, Rishank Devadiga, got the award of the most valuable player. He was retained by

team. After 3 seasons, the squad of U Mumba was mostly changed but once again with the help of Rakesh Kumar they managed to finish fifth in the season. This was the first season where U Mumba failed to reach the finals.

2017

Anup Kumar was retained by Mumba for the fifth consecutive season. In season 5, he became the first player in Pro Kabaddi to complete 400 raid points.

Jaipur Pink Panthers

2018–19

For the sixth season, Anup Kumar was released by his former franchise U Mumba. In the auctions,

Abhishek Bachchan Abhishek Bachchan (born 5 February 1976) is an Indian actor and film producer known for his work in Hindi films. Part of the Bachchan family, he is the son of actors Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan and the grandson of poet Harivansh Rai Bach ...

owned franchise

brought him in the auction for 30 Lakhs INR.

Retierment

On 19 December 2018, he announced his retirement from kabaddi after completing 15 years in the sport.

Coaching

Currently, he is the coach of

Puneri Paltan Puneri Paltan is a kabaddi team which represents the city of Pune, Maharashtra, India in the Pro Kabaddi League. The team, coached by BC Ramesh, plays at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex. Puneri Paltan, a founding member of the Pro Ka ...

in Pro Kabbadi League Season 7.

International career

He made his International debut in

. Anup Kumar won gold medals at the 2010 Asian Games and the 2014 Asian Games in kabaddi. He won a gold medal in kabaddi at the

2016 South Asian Games The 2016 South Asian Games, officially the XII South Asian Games, is a major multi-sport event which took place from 5 February to 16 February 2016 in Guwahati and Shillong, India. A total of 2,672 athletes competed in 226 events over 22 spor ...

. He captained the Indian national Kabaddi team and won their record third Kabaddi World Cup in 2016.

Style of play

His main skills are bonus, hand touch and toe touch. Due to his extraordinary skills of taking bonus points, he is famously known as ''Bonus ka Badshah''. He has another nickname 'Captain Cool' due to his brilliant captaincy and sportsmanship. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest captains in Indian Kabaddi history. Though there was a decline in his performance at the final stages (during last matches), he continued to influence by his captainship qualities.

Honours and achievements

Club

U Mumba

* Pro Kabaddi League: ** 2015 Pro Kabaddi League Champions with

as a captain. **

2014 Pro Kabaddi League The 2014 Pro Kabaddi League was the first season of Pro Kabaddi League. The duration of the season was from 26 July 2014 to 31 August 2014. There was double round robin matches along with two semi finals, third place and final games. 56 games we ...

- Raider of the season with 153 raid points from 16 matches

International

India

* Kabaddi World Cup:

Asian Games Gold Medal Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

: 2010,

* South Asian Games Gold Medal:

Individual

Awards

* Pro Kabaddi League 2014: Most Valuable Player * Arjuna Award for Kabaddi: 2012

References

External links

Official Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Anup Indian kabaddi players 1983 births Living people People from Gurgaon district Kabaddi players from Haryana Pro Kabaddi League players Recipients of the Arjuna Award Asian Games gold medalists for India Asian Games medalists in kabaddi Kabaddi players at the 2010 Asian Games Kabaddi players at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games South Asian Games gold medalists for India South Asian Games medalists in kabaddi