Ankit Sharma (born 20 July 1992) is an Indian athlete who competes in the long jump event. He holds the long jump national record of 8.19 metres set in June 2016 at the G. Kosanov Memorial Meet in

Almaty Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to ...

, Kazakhstan.

Early life and background

Sharma was born on 20 July 1992 in

Pinahat Pinahat (formerly Shreenagar) is a town and a nagar panchayat in Agra district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh and situated on the Bank of Chambal River (the Ghadiyal Sanctuary). It is about 55 km from A ...

, Uttar Pradesh as the youngest child of teacher Harnath Sharma and Mithlesh Sharma. His family originally hails from Morena district, Madhya Pradesh, and migrated to Pinahat several years before Sharma was born. He did his initial schooling in Morena, before graduating in commerce in Bhopal. His elder brother Pravesh Sharma is also an athlete. Sharma aspired to become a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er but was unable to take up the sport due to lack of adequate facilities in Morena. When he was eight, Sharma started practicing javelin throw. His instructors suggested him to switch to long jump after watching him "jump up with joy" at each successful throw. He took part in long jump events which were a part of Raksha Bandhan celebrations in Morena, and, at his parents' suggestion, decided to pursue a career in long jump. Apart from cricket and javelin throw, he also played volleyball, triple jump, discus throw and hurdles during his childhood.

Career

In 2006, Sharma was selected to represent Sports Authority of India, Bhopal, when he crossed the 6-metre mark at the age of 13. He was trained by Nishad Kumar since 2009 and Romanian coach Bedros Bedrosian since 2015. Sharma competed in the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

but failed to win a medal. Having participated at the

2010 Asian Games The 2010 Asian Games (), officially known as the XVI Asian Games () and also known as Guangzhou 2010 (), was a regional multi-sport event celebrated from November 12 to November 27, 2010 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, although several events ...

, he was left out of the Indian contingent for the

2014 Asian Games The 2014 Asian Games ( ko, 2014년 아시아 경기대회/2014년 아시안 게임, Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asia gyeonggi daehoe/Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asian Geim), officially known as the 17th Asian Games ( ko, 제17회 아시아 경기대회/제17회 ...

, with India incidentally fielding no athletes in men's long jump. Regarding his omission, he said, "Certain athletes were even given a third chance to qualify; I did not get even one. I pleaded for one chance but was told I was no medal hope." In 2015, he recorded a jump of 8.04 metres at the National Games in Thiruvananthapuram and became the fifth Indian to go past the 8 metre-mark. He won the gold medal at the

2016 South Asian Games The 2016 South Asian Games, officially the XII South Asian Games, is a major multi-sport event which took place from 5 February to 16 February 2016 in Guwahati and Shillong, India. A total of 2,672 athletes competed in 226 events over 22 sports ...

with a jump of 7.89 metres, breaking a 27-year Games record. In June 2016, Sharma took part in the G. Kosanov Memorial Meet in

, Kazakhstan, where he broke the national record two times on the same day. He recorded jumps of 8.17, 8.19 and 8.14 metres, surpassing

Kumaravel Premkumar Kumaravel Premkumar (born 2 June 1993) is an Indian long jumper from Tamil Nadu. He is the national record-holder in both the indoor and outdoor long jump. He won a bronze medal at the 2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships and a silver at ...

's national record of 8.09 metres set in 2013. He also gained qualification for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

in Rio de Janeiro where the qualification standard was 8.15 metres.

Personal life

Sharma is posted as an income tax inspector in Chennai as of June 2016, having been selected by the

Income Tax Department The Income Tax Department (also referred to as IT Department or ITD) is a government agency undertaking direct tax collection of the government of India. It functions under the Department of Revenue of the Ministry of Finance. The Income Tax De ...

in 2015.

References

External links

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All-Athletics.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharma, Ankit 1992 births Living people People from Agra district Athletes from Uttar Pradesh Indian male long jumpers Commonwealth Games competitors for India Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of India South Asian Games gold medalists for India Asian Games competitors for India South Asian Games medalists in athletics 21st-century Indian people