Richa Mishra bags 6 golds in swimming, Kulwinder Kaur wins 5 golds in track and field.
FARIFAX, VIRGINIA: Indian athletes put up an impressive show at the 2015 World Police & Fire Games which concluded here on Sunday, winning more than 150 medals.
Manager P.K. Bhardwaj told The American Bazaar that the medal tally was India’s highest ever. “We won 83 in the last Games. With 156 medals, including 80 plus golds, we have done pretty well for our country and brought a lot of pride for the nation.”
Hosts United States won by far the most medals, 1,777, including nearly 700 golds. Canada finished second with nearly 430 medals.
More than 12,000 athletes — all of them belonging to various law enforcement and firefighting agencies — from 70 countries competed in over 60 sports in the 10-day event, held at 53 sporting arenas in Fairfax County and surrounding areas in the Washington metropolitan area. There were 1,600 plus medal events.
The Indian athletes’s tally included 89 golds and 50 silvers. They competed in only seven sporting categories: athletics, wrestling, boxing, judo, archery, swimming and shooting.
Track and field yielded the most medals for India, followed by swimming.
The stars of the Games for the country were Kulwinder Kaur and Richa Mishra, who won a combined 11 gold and 2 silver medals.
Kaur, an assistant sub inspector with Punjab Police, earned 5 gold medals in the track and field events, winning every event she competed in. CRPF’s Mishra, who was taking part in her fifth Police & Fire Games, won an impressive 6 golds and 2 silvers in swimming events.
Other notable performers in athletics events included Sini Sahadevan of Kerala Police (4 golds, 1 silver), Monika Choudhary of CRPF (4 golds, 1 silver), Jayashree Boragi of Maharashtra Police (3 golds, 1 silver, 1 bronze), Jojimol Joseph of Kerala Police (3 golds, 1 silver, 2 bronzes) and Ayana Thomas of CRPF (3 golds, 3 silvers).
Ranjana Gupta of UP Police (3 golds, 2 silvers, 1 bronze) and Kuheli Gangulee of CISF (3 glods and 3 silvers) in shooting, and Jhanu Hansda of Jharkhand Police (3 golds) and Sumandeep Kaur of CRPF (3 golds) had boosted the country’s medal tally.
The Games were marred by the death of Brazilian Carlos Silva while competing in a cycling event on Thursday.