Sports - Current Affairs for December, 2017

Nagpur's visually impaired swimmer Kanchanmala Pande scripted history for India on Dec 7, 2017. Kanchanmala became the first Indian to win the gold medal in the World Para Swimming Championship. She created ripples in the ongoing championship in Mexico and secured the top spot in 200 meters medley event in S-11 category. Kanchanmala, who works with Reserve Bank of India (RBI), was expecting a medal at Mexico but a gold medal was totally unexpected. Kanchanmala, the only Indian swimmer to qualify in the women's category, was unfortunate to miss the podium finish in other events. She missed the top three finish by a whisker in 100 meters freestyle and finished fourth. She was fifth fastest in 100 meters breaststroke and backstroke. The 26-year-old, was selected in the Indian squad on the basis of her excellent performance at the IDM Berlin Para Swimming Championship held in July at Berlin, Germany. She won a silver medal in 200m individual medley. Kanchanmala qualified for the World Championships in Mexico after she beat the qualifying mark in 100m Freestyle (1:34:00), 100m Backstroke (1:41:00), 100m Breaststroke (2:01:00) and a silver 200m Individual Medley (3:03:00) against top para-athletes in Berlin. Kanchanmala, who hails from Amravati, is a regular swimmer of Aqua Sports Club, Nagpur.

India's Saikhom Mirabai Chanu won gold medal at World Weightlifting Championships held in Anaheim, United States. She achieved this feat by lifting new world record of 194kg - 85kg snatch and 109kg clean-and-jerk in the 48 kg weight category. Thailand's Sukcharoen Thunya won silver medal with total lift of 193, while Segura Ana Iris won bronze medal with 182kg lift. With this victory, Mirabai Chanu became first Indian in over two decades to win the medal at the Championships. She is only second Indian weightlifter after Karnam Malleswari to achieve this feat. Olympic bronze medallist Karnam Malleshwari had won the top prize in worlds twice in 1994 and 1995.