Joseph Abraham (born 11 September 1981) is an Indian

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete from

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South C ...

. He holds the current

400 metre hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...

State record of 49.51 seconds set during the

2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, () under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007. 200 of the IAAF's 212 member federa ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

on 26 August 2007. At Osaka, Abraham became the first Indian male athlete to clear the opening round of an event in the

World Athletics Championships The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the ...

when he reached the 400m hurdles semifinals. He also won the 400m hurdles gold medal at 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.

Athletic career

Born in

Kottayam district Kottayam (), is one of 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala. Kottayam district comprises six municipal towns: Kottayam, Changanassery, Pala, Erattupetta, Ettumanoor, and Vaikom. It is the only district in Kerala that neither borders ...

, Abraham made a steady progress in intermediate hurdles. His first sub-52 came in 2003 and in the following year he clocked a time of 51.98 seconds. His best time in 2005 was 50.87 seconds. His first national record came at the 2006 National inter-State athletics championship in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of ...

. He broke the national record of 50.39 seconds held by Patlavath Shankar with a time of 50.22 seconds. On 12 May 2007 at the 13th Federation Cup Athletics Championship in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, he broke his own 400m hurdles record 50.04 seconds to win the gold. Joseph's first sub-50 performance came in the

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

Asian Grand Prix circuit athletics in June 2007. He won the silver by setting the new national record of 49.52 seconds while coming second behind Chinese Meng Yan. In June 2009, Abraham achieved the qualifying norm of 49.80 seconds for the Berlin World Championships, at the Indian Grand Prix meet in

by clocking 49.59 seconds. Later in the same year, he won a silver medal in 400m hurdles (with a time of 49.96 seconds) at the

2009 Asian Championships in Athletics The 18th Asian Athletics Championships were held in Guangzhou, China in 2009. Results Men's results Track Field Women's results Track Field Medal table Participating nations * (12) * (1) * (1) * (77) * (22) * (16) * ...

held at

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong ...

, China. On 25 November 2010, Abraham became the first Indian to win individual gold medal at 400m hurdles at any

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until th ...

. He won the gold medal at 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games clocking a time of 49.96 seconds. ;400m sprint Abraham also competes in the

400 __NOTOC__ Year 400 ( CD) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Stilicho and Aurelianus (or, less frequently, year ...

m sprint. His personal best for the 400 metres is 46.70 seconds set at the 2006 Open National Athletics Championships in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abraham, Joseph Malayali people Sportspeople from Kottayam Indian male hurdlers Recipients of the Arjuna Award Living people 1981 births Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for India Asian Games silver medalists for India Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Athletes from Kerala