The star right cover for the Gujarat Fortune Giants, Sunil Kumar, turned 23-years old today. Having made a name for himself in only two seasons of Pro Kabaddi, Sunil has come to be one of the top defenders of the league. Hailing from Haryana, Sunil's journey into the sport of Kabaddi has been an interesting one. Let us find out more about the youngster:

1. Sunil was born on May 12, 1997, in the small town of Bhainswal located in the Sonipat district of Haryana. Known to produce a huge number of sportspersons, the choices for Sunil were pretty simple as he took up Kabaddi from the age of 11 years.

2. Sunil was inspired to take up Kabaddi after watching is elder cousin play the sport. As he started getting more exposure to the game, Sunil started idolizing Anup Kumar.

3. Parvesh Bhainswal and Sunil Kumar are cousins and have been playing together from the age of 12. The 'dashing-duo' as they are famously called, have great chemistry between them and are a part of Gujarat Fortune Giants as well as the Railways Sports Promotion Board team. While Sunil is a right cover, Parvesh plays as a left cover.

4. Sunil first came into the limelight during the University Nationals when he helped his team win Gold. He then went to Sports Authority of India, Gandhinagar, to get professional training after being spotted by SAI Coach, Jaivir Sharma.

5. He played for the SAI team and went on to win Junior Nationals for two years from 2015 to 2017. His performance in the junior level tournament grabbed the attention of Patna Pirates and he was picked up by the team for the PKL Season 4. However, the 20-year old got to feature in only one match.

6. Pro Kabaddi League Season 5 saw Gujarat Fortune Giants picking up the youngster for Rs. 30.4 lakh as well as Parvesh for Rs. 25 lakh. The duo was back in the same team after having played for different PKL teams earlier. Sunil played every match for Gujarat in their first season and went on to score 57 tackle points to finish 9th on the top defenders list for the season.

7. Sunil was named the Captain of Gujarat Fortune Giants for PKL Season 6 and went on to become the youngest player to lead a PKL team. Not only did he lead the team to a second successive final, but Sunil also finished the tournament with 76 tackle points, the fourth most by a defender. He was the most successful right cover through the season, as well as scoring the second-highest number of assists (81).

{"preview_thumbnail":"/sites/default/files/styles/video_embed_wysiwyg_preview/public/video_thumbnails/UX-ag6ZdIt8.jpg","video_url":"https://youtu.be/UX-ag6ZdIt8","settings":{"responsive":1,"width":"854","height":"480","autoplay":1},"settings_summary":["Embedded Video (Responsive, autoplaying)."]}

8. In his four seasons of PKL, Sunil has 179 tackle points to his name and is the second-highest tackle point scorer for his team behind Parvesh. With 12 super tackles and 10 High 5s, Sunil is one of the most promising youngsters to look forward to in the coming seasons of Pro Kabaddi.

9. His performance in the league did not go unnoticed as he was called up for the Indian national Kabaddi team for the South Asian Games 2019 in Nepal. The youngster won his first gold medal for the team during this outing.

10. On the national circuit, Sunil plays for Railways and has won two back to back Gold medals with the team. He was an integral part of the team that won the Gold medal at 67th Senior National Kabaddi Championships in Jaipur in March 2020.