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One Hundred Tamils of
the 20th Century
V.S.Kumar Anandan
[Nominated by Senthuran Nadarajah, Canada]
"Kumar Anandan, son of Vivekanandan of
the Engineering Service of the Irrigation Department,
Sri Lanka, was from Valvettiturai, Jaffna. From his
early days, Kumar set his heart on distinguishing
himself and becoming an outstanding member of the
community.
He had a successful educational career, graduating in
Science of the London University. He also obtained the
Bachelor of Laws degree in Ceylon and was an Attorney
at Law by profession.
Very soon he commenced his efforts at winning World
Records and seeing his name in the Guinness Book of
World Records. By 1983, he had secured several
records:
Record - Swimming the Palk Strait, from Sri Lanka to
India and back, in 51 hours, in the year 1971.
Record - Twist Dance for 128 hours, in December 1978
.
Record - Non-stop cycling for 187 hours, a distance of
1487 miles, in May 1979.
Record - Balancing on one foot for 33 hours, in May
1979.
Record - Ball punching for 136 hours, in December
1979.
Record - Sit ups - 165 in two minutes, in May 1980.
Record - High Kicks - 9100 times, in December 1980.
Record - Walking non-stop for 159 hours, a distance of
296 miles, in August 1981.
Record - Water-Treading for 80 hours, performed at the
Anna Swimming Pool in Madras, in August 1981.
He was unfortunate to meet with a serious motor
accident and was in hospital for six months; afterwards
he had to be in crutches for another six months. Even
after that, he performed Billiards Cue-Levelling and
Speed Motor Cycle riding.
But tragedy befell on the 6th of August 1984. A day of
disaster for this "Heroic and Restless Life". He
collapsed half-way while attempting to swim the 30 mile
stretch of the English Channel from Dover to Cape Gris
Nez. He encountered heavy and unfavourable currents and
collapsed after six hours of valiant defiance. That was
the end of a World Record Holder, a restless life who
aspired to be Champion Endurance Sportsman of the
world." (from S.Arumugam's Dictionary of Biography of the
Tamils of Ceylon - published here with
permission)
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