Joseph Ganapathiplackal Abraham is an Indian track and field athlete from Kerala. He holds the current 400 metre hurdles national record of 49.51 seconds set during the 2007 World Championships in Athletics in Osaka on 26 August 2007. He was born on September 11, 1981 in Kottayam, Kerala, India. 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. He broke the existing national record of 50.39 sesconds held by Patlavath Shankar with a time of 50.22 seconds. On 12 May 2007 at the 13th Federation Cup Athletics Championship in Kolkata, he broke his own 400m hurdles record 50.04 seconds to win the gold. Joseph's first sub-50 performance came in the Guwahati 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. On 25 November 2010, Abraham became the first Indian to win individual Gold Medal at 400m Hurdles at any Asian Games. He won the gold medal at 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games clocking a time of 49.96 seconds. In 2010, he received the Arjuna Award.