Anil Kumar

Anil Kumar (born 20 June 1975) is a well renowned Indian male discus thrower with his personal best throw of 64.37 metres attained in July, 2004 in Szombathely, Hungary. He received Arjuna Award in 2004 for his performances at Asia level. He is also bestowed with the Bhim Award by State Government of Haryana. He led the Indian athletics contingent for Asian Athletics Grand Prix Series held at Colombo, Bangkok and Manila in June 2003. Career International level performances Anil Kumar won silver medal in the Asian Games, 1998 held at Bangkok, Thailand. In the Asian Championship held in 2000 at Jakarta, Indonesia, he bagged a gold medal. He also won bronze medal in the 2002 Asian Games held at Busan, South Korea. In the following year, he won bronze medal in the Asian Championship held at Manila, Philippines and secured Gold in the Afro-Asian Games held in Hyderabad, India. Anil Kumar participated in the Summer Olympic Games in 2004 after achieving 'A' standard qualification. He was declared best athlete of 'Asli Kozar Memorial Meet' held in Varaždin, Croatia in July 2004 in the run-up for the Athens Olympics where he hurled the discus to a distance of 63.88 metres. Apart from winning several international competitions in Europe, Anil Kumar also won 3 Silver and 1 Bronze medal in Asian Grand Prix Series held in Hyderabad, Colombo, Bangkok and Manila in 2003. Performance during 2004 Athens Olympics Anil Kumar came up with two foul throws in the qualification round before being stretchered off following a muscle injury. The national record holder and medal winner at the last two Asian Games, who had a 64.37m effort in Hungary barely two weeks before the start of the Olympics and on whose training the government spent close to INR 16 lakhs, did not attempt a third try as that could have aggravated the injury. According to Lalit Bhanot, secretary of the Athletics Federation of India, "Anil pulled a muscle in the left abductor during his first throw and then tried a second, which was also foul. He then decided to skip the third to avoid aggravating the injury.