Powell was one of the best sprinters in the country in the sixties. He overcame the disappointment of not having competed in the 1962 Asian Games and played a key role in the Indian 4x100m relay team reaching the semi-finals of the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Indian Olympian and member of India’s 4x100m relay team at the 1970 Asian Games, Kenneth Powell, died on Sunday (December 11th) in Bangalore, the Indian Athletics Federation announced.
He was 82 years old.
Powell was one of the best sprinters in the country in the sixties. He overcame the disappointment of not having competed in the 1962 Asian Games and played a key role in the Indian 4x100m relay team reaching the semi-finals of the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Likewise, excluded from the Asian Games in Bangkok in 1966, he remained motivated and helped India win bronze in the 4x100m relay in 1970 in Bangkok.
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The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has expressed its condolences over the passing of Powell, who is also an Arjuna winner.
AFI President Adille Sumariwalla said the sport had lost a gentleman sprinter when Powell died.
“Indian athletics rose to prominence in the 1960s through the efforts of athletes like Kenny Powell who won 19 titles in sprint events at Open Nationals and National Interstate Championships,” he said. -he declares.
Born April 20, 1940 in Kolar, Karnataka, Powell’s first major competition was the 1957 National School Games in Calcutta, where he finished third.
It wasn’t until the age of 19, when he moved to Bangalore to work with Indian Telephone Industries, that he took up athletics seriously under the watchful eye of Rangers Club coach Krishna .
Powell won the sprint double at the first Interstate National Athletics Championships in Allahabad in February 1963, winning the 100 m race in 10.8 seconds and the 200 m in 22.0 seconds.
He repeated the feat in 1968 in Madras, winning the 100m in 10.7 seconds and the 200m in 21.8 seconds.
Five years after leaving competitive athletics at the senior level in 1970, Powell represented Karnataka at the National Handball Championships. He returned to the track and won the 100m silver medal for the 40-44 age group at the Asian Masters Athletics meet in Singapore in 1981.
He later also reached the 45-49 age group final at the World Masters Championships in Melbourne.
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