Dharun Ayyasamy (born 31 December 1996) is an Indian track athlete. He specialises in the 400 metres and the 400 metres hurdles events. He participated in the 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He's the first and only Indian to run below 49sec (48.80sec) in 400m Hurdles.
 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Dharun Ayyasamy |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Born | 31 December 1996 Tiruppur district, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Height | 177 cm (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)[1] |
| Weight | 70 kg (150 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Country | India |
| Sport | Track and field |
| Event(s) | 400 metres, 400 metres hurdles |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal bests | |
Medal record | |
Early life
editDharun was born on 31 December 1996 in a village called Ravuthampalayam[2] near Avinashi in Tiruppur district. When he was in fourth grade, his father died of tuberculosis. Dharun's mother is a school teacher while his sister Sathya plays volleyball for Tamil Nadu.[3][4]
Dharun completed his schooling at The Century Foundation School in Tirupur where he was coached by Mr. Alagesan and he never looked back since then. He later studied B.A. at the Alva's College of Arts in Moodabidri, Karnataka.[5] He represented Tamil Nadu at kho kho before switching to athletics in tenth grade.[3][6]
Career
editDharun won the 400 metres hurdles gold medal at the 2016 South Asian Games in Guwahati with a time of 50.54 seconds, finishing 0.03 seconds ahead of fellow Indian Jithin Paul whom he overtook at the last hurdle.[7]
In July 2016, Dharun was part of the relay team that broke the national 4 × 400 metres relay record at Bangalore and qualified for the Olympics. The quartet of Dharun, Mohammad Anas, Kunhu Muhammed and Arokia Rajiv clocked 3:00:91, rewriting the national record of 3:02.17 set by themselves four weeks earlier in Turkey. The performance helped the relay team jump to 13th place in the world rankings.[8] It was the third time a men's relay team from India qualified for the Olympics, after 1964 and 2000.
In August 2018, Dharun won the 400 meter hurdles silver medal at the Asian Games in Jakarta with a timing of 48.96 seconds setting a new national record.[9][10]
In Sr Federation cup 2019, Dharun broke his own National record for the 3rd time in 400m hurdles by clocking 48.80sec .
References
edit- ^ Ayyasamy Dharun Archived 2016-08-06 at the Wayback Machine. rio2016.com
- ^ "Exporters' assn gives 1 lakh to Olympian". The Times of India. 23 July 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
- ^ a b RSI, Prasad (14 July 2016). "From Tamil Nadu bylanes to Rio track". The Times of India. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
- ^ "Ayyasamy Dharun Profile: 4x400m Relay". The Indian Express. 1 August 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
- ^ Kumar, R Vimal (23 July 2016). "Youth from Avinashi qualifies for Olympics". The Hindu. Retrieved 4 August 2016 – via PressReader.
- ^ Swaminathan, Swaroop (12 July 2016). "Run that has changed quarter-miler Dharun's world". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 19 July 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
- ^ "South Asian Games: India Win 11 Out of 12 Medals in Athletics". NDTV. 11 February 2016. Archived from the original on 25 August 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
- ^ "India's 4x400m relay teams qualify for Rio Olympics". Rediff. 10 July 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
- ^ "Asian Games 2018: Dharun Ayyasamy wins Silver medal in Men's 400m Hurdles, sets new National Record".
- ^ "Asian Games 2018 Day 9, LIVE: Dharun Ayyasamy wins silver medal in 400m hurdles | Latest News & Updates at DNAIndia.com". dna. 27 August 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
External links
edit
- Ayyasamy Dharun at World Athletics
- Ayyasamy Dharun at Olympics.com
- Ayyasamy Dharun at Olympedia
- Dharun Ayyasamy at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
- "Ayyasamy Dharun at Rio2016.com". Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
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