Pooja Kadian becomes first Indian to bag gold at Wushu World Championships with 65kg Sanda triumph

Pooja Kadian became the first Indian sportsperson to win a gold medal at the Wushu World Championships on Wednesday. Kadian defeated Evgeniya Stepanova of Russia in the 75kg women’s Sanda category. Four other members of the Indian contingent – Rameshchandra Singh Moirangthem, Bhanu Pratap Singh, Rajinder Singh, and Arunpama Devi Keisham – also bagged medals in the tournament held in Kazan, Russia.

In the semi-finals, Kadian had defeated Egypt’s Heba Abdelkader 2-0. Moirangthem missed the final by a whisker and claimed bronze in men’s 48 kg Sanda category. His semi-final battle against Wang Yongjie of China finished 0-0, but the latter was handed a technical victory.

Bhanu Pratap won bronze in the men’s 60 kg Sanda category, and Rajinder also ended up with a bronze medal in the men’s 90 kg category. Rajinder had entered the semi-finals after getting the better of Russia’s Bozigit Ataev 2-1, before losing 1-2 to eventual gold medallist, Milad Arefi of Iran.

Meanwhile, Keisham won bronze the 65 kg Sanda category in the women’s section with a 2-0 win over Switzerland’s Pricilla Staubli. Currently, China leads the medal tally with 15 gold medals with Iran in second place with eight.