Ajay Thakur (born 1 May 1987) is an Indian 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 the former captain of the Indian National Kabaddi Team. He was part of the national teams which won

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. ...

and gold medal at

2014 Asian Games The 2014 Asian Games ( ko, 2014년 아시아 경기대회/2014년 아시안 게임, Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asia gyeonggi daehoe/Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asian Geim), officially known as the 17th Asian Games ( ko, 제17회 아시아 경기대회/제17회 ...

. He was awarded the

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

and

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

in 2019. He is a member of Himachal Pradesh Police Service cadre who currently serves as Deputy superintendent of police.

Early life

Thakur was born in Dabhota village of

Nalagarh Nalagarh is a city and a municipal committee, near the city of Solan in Solan district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Geography Nalagarh is a gateway to Himachal Pradesh in North India, from Shimla, from Delhi and from Chandigar ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several pea ...

to Rajinder Kaur and Chottu Ram. He was inspired by his cousin Rakesh who had already represented India in Kabaddi at international level. He married Sandeep Rana on April 10, 2019.

Career

Ajay Thakur has been described as one of the best Indian raiders. He represented his employer

Air India Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Talace Private Limited, a Special-Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Tata Sons, after Air India Limited's former owner, the Government of India, completed the ...

at the Industrial National Championships. He has also captained India team in 2017 and led them to gold. He will also lead the Himachal men's team at the 67th Senior Nationals Kabaddi Championship 2020. He is a member of Himachal Pradesh Police Service cadre who currently serves as Deputy superintendent of police.

Pro Kabaddi League

In Season 1, Thakur played 15 matches and scored 122 raid points as well as 5 tackle points while playing for

Bengaluru Bulls Bengaluru Bulls (BGB) is a Kabaddi team based in Bengaluru that plays in the Pro Kabaddi League. The team were champions in Season 6 and are led by Mahender singh and coached by Randhir Singh. The team is owned by Kosmik Global Media. Bulls p ...

. In season 2, Thakur played 13 matches and scored 79 raid points as well as 1 tackle point while playing for Bengaluru Bulls. In season 3, Thakur played 14 matches and scored 52 raid points as well as 4 tackle points while playing for

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 Kab ...

. In season 4, Thakur played 16 matches and scored 63 raid points as well as 1 tackle point while playing for Puneri Paltan. In season 5, Ajay Thakur played 22 matches and scored 213 raid points as well as 9 tackle points while playing for

Tamil Thalaivas Tamil Thalaivas is a Kabaddi team based in Tamil Nadu that plays in the Pro Kabaddi League. The team is owned by the consortium called Magnum Sports Private Limited, the parent company of Indian Super League club Kerala Blasters FC. Actor V ...

. In season 6, Ajay Thakur played 22 matches and scored 203 raid points as well as 1 tackle point while playing for Tamil Thalaivas. In season 7, Ajay Thakur played 13 matches and scored 58 raid points while playing for Tamil Thalaivas.

Kabaddi World Cup 2016

He was the no.1 raider with most raid points and Ajay was the overall highest point scorer with 68 points. India while playing Iran in the Kabaddi World Cup 2016 final, was in a trailing situation. In this situation, came Ajay scoring a 4-point raid to take India to the lead. He was also the Man of the Tournament in Kabaddi World Cup 2016. Thakur was placed fourth among the best performing raiders in Season 1 of Pro kabaddi league.

Achievements

His awards and achievements include: * Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games Kabaddi - Gold Medal

013 013 is a music venue in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The venue opened in 1998 and replaced the ''Noorderligt'', the ''Bat Cave'' and the ''MuziekKantenWinkel''. 013 is the largest popular music venue in the southern Netherlands. There are two concer ...

* Gold Medal at Kabaddi at the 2007 Asian Indoor Games * 2014 Asian Games - Gold Medal. * Asian Kabaddi Championship 2017(Gorgan, Iran) - Gold Medal. * World Cup 2016 (Ahmedabad, India) - Gold medal *Asian Games 2018 (Jakarta, Indonesia)- Bronze Medal *

award (2019) *

(2019)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thakur, Ajay 1986 births Living people Indian kabaddi players Asian Games medalists in kabaddi Kabaddi players at the 2014 Asian Games Kabaddi players at the 2018 Asian Games Kabaddi players from Himachal Pradesh People from Solan district Asian Games gold medalists for India Asian Games bronze medalists for India Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Recipients of the Arjuna Award Pro Kabaddi League players