Anup Kumar (kabaddi)


Anup Kumar is a former Indian professional Kabaddi player. He was a member of the 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 was the captain of the Indian National Kabaddi Team. He is one of the most successful raiders of Pro Kabaddi League and International Kabaddi. He spent five years with U Mumba and later moved to Jaipur Pink Panthers. In 2012, the Government of India conferred the Arjuna Award on him for his achievements in the sport. He is employed as a Deputy Commissioner of Police in his native State of Haryana. He has 596 points in the Pro Kabaddi League. On 19 December 2018, he announced his retirement from kabbadi.

Early life

Kumar, born and brought up in Palra, Gurgaon, Haryana, is the son of Ransingh Yadav, and Ballo Devi. He started playing Kabaddi as a pass-time during his schooldays. In April 2005, he joined CRPF as a constable. He represented India for the first time at the 2006 South Asian Games in Sri Lanka.

Pro Kabaddi League

U Mumba

2014

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

2015

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.

2016

U Mumba reached the final where they lost against Patna Pirates by a margin of only 2 points. This was the 3rd time when they played the final. A player in his team, Rishank Devadiga, got the award of the most valuable player.
He was retained by U Mumba team. After 3 seasons, the squad of U Mumba was mostly changed but once again with the help of Rakesh Kumar they managed to finish 5th in the season. This was the first season where U Mumba failed to reach the finals.

2017

Anup Kumar was retained by U Mumba for the fifth consecutive season. In season 5, he became the first player in Pro Kabaddi to complete 400 raid points.

Jaipur Pink Panthers

2018–19

For the 6th season, Anup Kumar was released by his former franchise U Mumba. In the auctions, Abhishek Bachchan owned franchise Jaipur Pink Panthers brought him in the auction for 30 Lakhs INR.

Retierment

On 19 December 2018, he announced his retirement from kabaddi after completing 15 years in the sport.

Coaching

Currently, he is the coach of Puneri Paltan in Pro Kabbadi League Season 7.

International career

He made his International debut in 2010 Asian Games. Anup Kumar won gold medals at the 2010 Asian Games and the 2014 Asian Games in kabaddi.
He won a gold medal in kabaddi at the 2016 South Asian Games.
He captained the Indian national Kabaddi team and won their record third Kabaddi World Cup in 2016.

Style of play

His main skills are bonus, hand touch and toe touch. Due to his extraordinary skills of taking bonus points, he is famously known as Bonus ka Badshah. He has another nickname 'Captain Cool' due to his brilliant captaincy and sportsmanship. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest captains in Indian Kabaddi history.
Though there was a decline in his performance at the final stages, he continued to influence by his captainship qualities.

Honours and achievements

Club

U Mumba

India

Awards