Anup Kumar – The Kabaddi Superstar

A former Indian professional Kabaddi player, Anup Kumar was born on 20 November 1983. Anup was the captain of the Indian National Kabaddi Team. Under his able capabilities, India national kabaddi team that won Asian gold medals in 2010 and 2014, one South Asian gold medal in 2016 and the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup. He is amongst the successful raiders of Pro Kabaddi League and International Kabaddi. He spent 5 years with U Mumba and later got associated to Jaipur Pink Panthers. The Government of India conferred him with the Arjuna Award for his achievements in the sport, in 2012. Currently, he is employed as a Deputy Commissioner of Police in his native State of Haryana. He has 596 points in the Pro Kabaddi League. Later, he announced his retirement from kabbadi on 19 December 2018.

Early life

Anup was born and brought-up in Palra, is the son of Ransingh Yadav and Ballo Devi, in a village Gurgaon district of Haryana. He was fond of and started playing Kabaddi as a pass-time during his school days. He joined CRPF as a constable, in April 2005. In December 2005, his exploits took him to the Indian camp. For the first time in 2006, he represented India at South Asian Games held at Sri Lanka.

U Mumba

In the 2014, Anup was captain of the U Mumba team for the Pro Kabaddi League. Leading his team to the finals where they lost to Jaipur Pink Panthers, he won the Most Valuable Player award in the first season of the league. To become one of the most successful raider of Pro Kabaddi, he scored 155 raid points in 16 matches.

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.

In the finals, U Mumba Lost with a margin of 2 points against Patna Pirates. This was the 3rd time they were playing to win the finals. Rishank Devadiga, a phenomenal player in his team, got the award of most valuable player.

He was retained by U Mumba team. After three seasons, the U Mumba squad was mostly changed but with the help of Rakesh Kumar they managed to finish 5th in the season. U Mumba failed to reach the finals in that season.

For the fifth consecutive season, Anup Kumar was retained by U Mumba. He became the first player in Pro Kabaddi to complete 400 raid points, in this fifth season.

By: Preeti Narula

Content: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anup_Kumar_(kabaddi)