Ajay Thakur (born 1 May 1987) is an Indian professional

Kabaddi Kabaddi (, ) is a contact team sport played between two teams of seven players. It is one of the traditional games of South Asia. In this game, a raider enters the opposing half of the court to touch defenders and attempt to return within 30 ...

player and the former captain of the Indian National Kabaddi Team.He is widely regarded as one of the Greatest Players Of All Time.He was part of the national teams which won

2016 Kabaddi World Cup Kabbadi World Cup may refer to: * Kabaddi World Cup (International Kabaddi Federation), an international competition organised by International Kabaddi Federation * Kabaddi World Cup (World Kabaddi), an international competition organised by Worl ...

and gold medal at

2014 Asian Games The 2014 Asian Games (), officially known as the 17th Asian Games () and also known as Incheon 2014 (), were a pan-Asian multi-sport event held from 19 September to 4 October 2014 in Incheon, South Korea. On 17 April 2007, Incheon was awarded ...

. He was awarded the

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

and

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjun ...

in 2019. He is a member of Himachal Pradesh Police Service cadre where he currently serves as a Deputy superintendent of police.

Early life

Thakur was born in Dabhota village of

Nalagarh Nalagarh is a city and a municipal committee, near the city of Solan in Solan district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Nalagarh is a gateway to Himachal Pradesh in North India, from Shimla, from Delhi and from Chandigarh. Hist ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

to Rajinder Kaur and Chottu Ram. He was inspired by his cousin Rakesh who had already represented India in Kabaddi at international level. He married Sandeep Rana on April 10, 2019.

Career

Ajay Thakur has been described as one of the best Indian raiders. He represented his employer

Air India Air India is the flag carrier of India with its main hub at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, and secondary hubs at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, alo ...

at the Industrial National Championships. He has also captained India team in 2017 and led them to gold. He will also lead the Himachal men's team at the 67th Senior Nationals Kabaddi Championship 2020. He is a member of Himachal Pradesh Police Service cadre where he currently serves as a Deputy superintendent of police.

Pro Kabaddi League

In Season 1, Thakur played 15 matches and scored 122 raid points as well as 5 tackle points while playing for

Bengaluru Bulls Bengaluru Bulls (BGB) is a professional kabaddi team based in Bengaluru that plays in the Pro Kabaddi League. The team were champions in Season 6 and are led by Pardeep Narwal and coached by BC Ramesh. The team is owned by Ashwin Mallaya Ulla ...

. In season 2, Thakur played 13 matches and scored 79 raid points as well as 1 tackle point while playing for Bengaluru Bulls. In season 3, Thakur played 14 matches and scored 52 raid points as well as 4 tackle points while playing for

Puneri Paltan Puneri Paltan is a professional kabaddi team that represents the city of Pune, Maharashtra in the Pro Kabaddi League. The team, coached by Ashok Shinde, plays at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex. In the 10th season of the Pro Kabaddi Le ...

. In season 4, Thakur played 16 matches and scored 63 raid points as well as 1 tackle point while playing for Puneri Paltan. In season 5, Ajay Thakur played 22 matches and scored 213 raid points as well as 9 tackle points while playing for

Tamil Thalaivas Tamil Thalaivas is an Indian professional kabaddi franchise based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The team competes in the Pro Kabaddi League and was added as one of the four additional franchises when the league was expanded in 2017. The team plays i ...

. In season 6, Ajay Thakur played 22 matches and scored 203 raid points as well as 1 tackle point while playing for Tamil Thalaivas. In season 7, Ajay Thakur played 13 matches and scored 58 raid points while playing for Tamil Thalaivas.

Kabaddi World Cup 2016

He was the no.1 raider with most raid points and Ajay was the overall highest point scorer with 68 points. India while playing Iran in the Kabaddi World Cup 2016 final, was in a trailing situation. In this situation, came Ajay scoring a 4-point raid to take India to the lead. He was also the Man of the Tournament in Kabaddi World Cup 2016. Thakur was placed fourth among the best performing raiders in Season 1 of Pro kabaddi league.

Achievements

His awards and achievements include: * Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games Kabaddi - Gold Medal

013 013 is a music venue in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The venue opened in 1998 and replaced the ''Noorderligt'', the ''Bat Cave'' and the ''MuziekKantenWinkel''. 013 is the largest popular music venue in the southern Netherlands. There are two concer ...

* Gold Medal at Kabaddi at the 2007 Asian Indoor Games * 2014 Asian Games - Gold Medal. * Asian Kabaddi Championship 2017(Gorgan, Iran) - Gold Medal. * World Cup 2016 (Ahmedabad, India) - Gold medal *Asian Games 2018 (Jakarta, Indonesia)- Bronze Medal *

award (2019) *

(2019)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thakur, Ajay 1986 births Living people Indian male kabaddi players Asian Games gold medalists in kabaddi Asian Games bronze medalists in kabaddi Kabaddi players at the 2014 Asian Games Kabaddi players at the 2018 Asian Games Kabaddi players from Himachal Pradesh People from Solan district Asian Games gold medalists for India Asian Games kabaddi players for India Asian Games bronze medalists for India Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Recipients of the Arjuna Award Pro Kabaddi League players