Kumaravel Premkumar (born 2 June 1993) is an Indian

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

er from

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. He is the national record-holder in both the indoor and outdoor long jump. He won a bronze medal at the

2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships The 2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships was the fifth edition of the international indoor athletics event between Asian nations. It took place at the Vocational and Technical College Athletics Hall in Hangzhou, China, between 18 and 19 Febru ...

and a silver at the

2013 Asian Athletics Championships The 2013 Asian Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the biennial athletics competition between Asian nations. It was held at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi, Pune, India between 3–7 July. Around 522 athletes f ...

Early life and education

Premkumar was born on 6 February 1993 in Kumbakonam,

Thanjavur Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the Gr ...

, Tamil Nadu. He was one year old when his father died, after which he was raised by his mother, Uma Rani. His mother worked in a local church to provide for the family. He attended St. Antony's School, Thanjavur where physical education teacher Suresh recognised Premkumar's potential and encouraged him to pursue athletics. As a teenager in 2010, Premkumar moved to Chennai to train under coach P. Nagarajan. He joined Pachaiyappa's College Higher Secondary School, and was coached by Nagarajan at the Prime Sports Academy. He passed

Higher Secondary Examination The Higher Secondary School Certificate is a secondary qualification in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Higher Secondary Education The Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education in Bangladesh recognises "Higher Secondary Education" und ...

in 2012.

Sporting career

Kumaravel Premkumar long jump progression

Premkumar trains with coach P. Nagarajan at St. Joseph's Sports Academy, Chennai. He represented the academy at the 84th Senior State Athletics Championship held in

Coimbatore Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbato ...

in May 2011, and won a gold medal with a jump of . He represented Tamil Nadu at the South Zone Junior Athletics Championship held in Chennai in August 2011. He set a new national junior record with and won gold. Premkumar participated in the

that took place in

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...

, China. He won a bronze medal and set the national indoor record with a jump. The previous record was held by Maha Singh, who jumped at the

2006 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships The 2006 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships was an international indoor athletics event took place in Pattaya, Thailand, between 10 and 12 February. This was the first edition to be hosted in the country. A total of 24 nations sent athletes to c ...

Pattaya Pattaya ( th, พัทยา, , ) is a city in Thailand. It is on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about southeast of Bangkok, within, but not part of, Bang Lamung district in the province of Chonburi province, Chonburi. Pattaya City ( ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. Premkumar was the only Indian to win a medal at the championships. He competed in the 2012 World Junior Championships in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Spain and finished 16th in the qualification round with the best jump of , which was not sufficient to qualify him for the final. He set his personal best of at the National Inter-State Championships in Chennai in June 2013. A month after the championships, Premkumar won a silver medal at the

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

with the best jump of . Premkumar failed to qualify for the 2013 World Championships because his jump (more than the 'B' qualifying standard for the championships) at a meet in the United States Olympic Training Center in

Chula Vista, California Chula Vista (; ) is the second-largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the Largest cities in Southern California, seventh largest city in Southern California, the List of largest California cities by population, fifteenth largest city ...

, was

wind assisted In track and field, wind assistance is the benefit that an athlete receives during a race or event as registered by a wind gauge. Wind is one of many forms of weather that can affect sport. Due to a tailwind helping to enhance the speed of the at ...

beyond the 2 metres per second permissible limit, cancelling out the national record and the qualifying effort. At the 79th Railways Athletic Championships 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 ...

, he represented Integral Coach Factory team. He won the gold and cleared a distance of in the men's long jump final to erase a nine-year-old national record of , set by Amritpal Singh in 2002 at the 10th Federation Cup Athletics Championships in New Delhi. Premkumar was declared best athlete of the championships for his record-breaking performance, and was awarded with the

Marshal Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his death ...

Cup.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Premkumar, Kumaravel Living people 1993 births People from Thanjavur district Indian male long jumpers Athletes from Tamil Nadu Tamil sportspeople

Early life and education

Sporting career

See also

References

External links