World Military Games: Golds for Anandan Gunasekaran, Shivpal Singh

Gunasekaran wins the men’s disabled 200m IT1 event for his third gold in the competition. Shivpal takes the top prize in men’s javelin.

File Photo: Anandan Gunasekaran accounts for three of six gold medals won by India in the Games so far.

Para-athlete Anandan Gunasekaran and javelin thrower Shivpal Singh garnered gold medals for India at the 7th CISM World Military Games here on Thursday.

Gunasekaran’s win in the men’s disabled 200m IT1 event, with a timing of 24.31 seconds, handed him his third gold in the competition. Fajardo Pardo Teodicelo of Colombia (26.11s) won the silver, while Peru’s Casa Jose (27.33s) bagged the bronze.

Earlier in the week, Gunasekaran had also claimed top honours in the men’s disabled 100m and 400m IT1 events.

In javelin, Shivpal, 24, increased India’s medal tally by delivering a best effort of 83.33m to get the top prize. Poland’s Krukowski Marcin clinched silver by hurling the spear to a distance of 78.17m, while the bronze went to Sri Lanka’s Ranasinghe Mudiyaneselage Sumedha Jagath (75.35m).

Shivpal, who hails from Chandauli village near Varanasi, had earlier won a silver medal at the Asian Championships in Doha in April, 2019. He had then delivered a personal best throw of 86.23m.

Bronze for Gurpreet Singh

In the 25m center-file pistol men’s individual event, 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist marksman Gurpreet Singh claimed bronze. He had a total score of 585. The gold went to Ukraine’s Korostylov Pavlo, while China’s Yao Zhaonan claimed the bronze.

The other gold-medallists for India at the Games are Aneesh Kumar Surendran Pillai and Virender, who excelled in the men’s disabled shot put categories .

India has so far garnered seven medals, including six gold and a bronze.

The World Military Games are being held in China for the first time where over 10,000 athletes from more than 140 nations are participating across 27 disciplines.