Kumaravel Premkumar is a prominent Indian athlete, recognized as a skilled long jumper. Hailing from Tamil Nadu, he holds the national record in both outdoor and indoor long jump. At the 2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships he won a Bronze medal whereas at the 2013 Asian Athletics Championships he bagged a Silver medal.
Early Life of Kumaravel Premkumar
Kumaravel Premkumar was born in Orthanadu village in Thanjavur district in the south Indian state Tamil Nadu on 2nd June 1993. He lost his father to death at the age of one, following which he was brought up by his mother, Uma Rani. His mother used to work in a local church for earning their living. Kumaravel Premkumar did his schooling from St. Antony`s School, Thanjavur, where his potential was discovered by his physical education teacher Suresh. It was his teacher who encouraged him to pursue a career in athletics. In the year 2010, as a teenager, Kumaravel Premkumar shifted to Chennai for receiving training under Coach P. Nagarajan. Later he attended Pachaiyappa`s College Higher Secondary School. In 2012 he passed his Higher Secondary Examination.
Career of Kumaravel Premkumar
Kumaravel Premkumar received training from Coach P. Nagarajan at St. Joseph`s Sports Academy, Chennai. At the 84th Senior State Athletics Championship organized in May 2011 in Coimbatore he represented the academy and bagged a gold medal with a jump of 7.75 metres. He also competed at the South Zone Junior Athletics Championship as a representative of Tamil Nadu which was organized in August 2011 in Chennai. There he won gold medal and created a new national junior record with 7.52 metres. In the 2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, held in Hangzhou China, Premkumar won a Bronze medal, setting a national indoor record with a 7.62-metre (25.0 ft) jump. With this he erased the previous record created by Maha Singh with 7.49 metres (24.6 ft) jump at the 2006 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships that took place in Pattaya, Thailand. Premkumar also earned the credit of being the only Indian who won a medal at the championship.
Kumaravel Premkumar finished 16th at the 2012 World Junior Championship in Barcelona, Spain in the qualification round with 7.38 metres jump. However he could not qualify for the final. He made his personal best at the National Inter-State Championships held in June 2013 in Chennai with 8 metres jump. After a month, he bagged a Silver medal in Pune at the 2013 Asian Athletics Championships with the best jump of 7.92 metres. Kumaravel Premkumar represented Integral Coach Factory team at the 79th Railways Athletic Championships held in New Delhi. Clearing a distance of 8.09 metres he won a Gold medal in the men`s long jump final and broke the nine-year-old national record of 8.08 metres made by Amritpal Singh at the 10th Federation Cup Athletics Championships in 2002 in New Delhi. For his record breaking performance in the championship, he was declared as the best athlete and was honoured with the Marshal Tito Cup.