Sharjah: India’s Raghavendra Anavekar won a gold medal in men’s 400m freestyle with a timing of 7:00.59 in the S6 classification in the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation’s World Games currently underway at Sharjah in United Arab Emirates.
Last year’s Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Prasant Karmakar claimed a silver medal in S9 category in men’s 200m individual medley with a time of 2:41.10. In the same event, Raghavendra Anavekar (2nd at S6 in 3:31.13) and Sharath Gayakwad (3rd at S8 in 2:45.51) also won the medals.
Deepa Malik (41), a mother of two, who is the only woman competitor in the Indian contingent, begun her quest with a bronze medal in women’s F33/53/54 category javelin throw on Friday(2). Her best mark of the opening day, 7.66m on her fourth attempt, was incidentally a new Asian continental mark for F53 classification.
The ten days competition from December 1 - 10 features athletics, race running, powerlifting, swimming, shooting, table tennis and amputee football.
The Paralympic Committee of India, which successfully organised the previous edition of the above Games in Bangalore two years ago, has sent a nine-member Indian squad to the event.