How eventful can your first few days in the office be? Well, certainly not as much as Kiren Rijiju, the new sports minister of India. In the second month of his new job, Rijiju saw scores of Indian athletes dominate the world of sports. India’s sportspersons won a staggering 227 medals in the month of July. The medals were won in nine sporting disciplines – athletics, weightlifting, judo, badminton, para-shooting, boxing, table tennis, wrestling, and shooting. This is how the minister expressed his joy on what was a richly successful phase for the Indian sports:
July has been the month of medals for India. Our athletes won 227 medals in 9 disciplines at international events. India bagged medals in Athletics, Wrestling, Judo, TT, Badminton, Shooting, Parashooting, Archery & Weightlifting. @KirenRijiju Congratulates all the medallist.
— Kiren Rijiju Office (@RijijuOffice) August 2, 2019
Athletes Shine
Record 6-time world champion pugilist MC Mary Kom clinched a gold at the President’s Cup in Indonesia, whereas wrestler Vinesh Phogat also emerged winner of the gold medal at Yasar Dogu in Turkey.
Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, Judoka Tababi Devi, and shooters Mehuli Ghosh and Elavenil Valarivan were also victorious in their respective international competitions. Rio Olympics silver medallist PV Sindhu ended up as the runner-up at the Indonesia Open while archer Deepika Kumari clinched a silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Archery Test event.
Of the 227 medals won, the 71 were bagged in the field of athletics that was spread across seven meets in Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Poland, and Kyrgyzstan.
Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships in Samoa witnessed Indian athletes steal 35 medals.
Furthermore, India also registered a clean sweep at the Table Tennis Commonwealth Championships, winning all seven medals on offer.
Indian Shooters Shine, Again
A jubilant @elavalarivan & @GhoshMehuli after winning gold & silver respectively @ISSF_Shooting junior World Cup in the women’s 10m Air Rifle competition. Congratulations! pic.twitter.com/LdGr1qXt7f
— NRAI (@OfficialNRAI) July 15, 2019
Indian shooters, who have been performing consistently well of late, also clinched 24 medals at the ISSF Junior World in Suhl, Germany. India’s medal tally at the end of the competition read- Ten gold, four silver and five bronze.
Indian para shooters were also not far behind in producing a remarkable performance. The athletes won a total of nine medals at the Para Shooting World Cup in Osijek, Croatia. These included four gold, two silver and three bronze medals. Shooter Manish Narwal was in top form, winning three out of the nine medals India won.
The Indian contingent was also triumphant in Judo at the Asia-Oceania Cadet Championships in Taipei, bagging six medals. The Indian boxing teams further chipped in a total of 21 medals won across three international competitions.
