71-year-old Chennai photographer Seshadri Sukumar is covering the 20th Asian Games in Japan

Seshadri Sukumar, a 71-year-old resident of Chennai, is photographing the 20th Asian Games in Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya, Japan as this article is being written. He is a Press Information Bureau‑accredited international sports photographer and a Canon EOS Ambassador who has developed a reputation for "checking into" major international sporting events.

Sukumar spent his working life in the banking sector, serving as an official photographer with Indian Overseas Bank (IOB). He maintained an intense desire to pursue sports photography for many years before retirement prompted him to take the plunge. After leaving his corporate career, he began to pursue sports photography full time and built his practice around covering major competitions.

By 2021 Sukumar had already been working in sports photography for several years; that year his nephew shared a story about his passion online while Sukumar was covering the Tokyo Olympic Games at age 66. The online story about an individual launching a second career later in life "caught the world’s imagination," drawing wider attention to his work. That episode raised his profile internationally and brought new visibility to assignments he was undertaking.

His portfolio spans a wide range of global tournaments and championships: multiple Olympic Games, FIFA World Cups (including the most recent edition), ICC World Cups, Grand Slam tournaments, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, NBA events, FINA World Championships, FIDE World Cups and MotoGP, among several other major sporting events. Those entries reflect the variety of competitions he has photographed across different sports and formats.

One of Sukumar’s best-known images came from the Rio Olympics, a photograph that captured the contrasting emotions of the winner and the loser. That picture earned him a gold medal from the Photographic Society of America (PSA).

His professional photographs have been distributed through international wire services and stock photography libraries. Those outlets include Alamy, Zuma Press, IMAGO Images, SOPA Images and Reuters Connect.

Sukumar’s life and career are a reminder that it is never too late to start afresh. Published - October 04, 2026 09:52 am IST.