Indian Para-Swimmer Niranjan Mukundan Wins 8 medals in Under-23 World Games
Indian Para-swimmer Niranjan Mukundan has defied the odds to win as many as eight medals at the recently concluded Under-23 World Games in Czech Republic. The Bengaluru lad won three gold medals in the 200m freestyle, 50m butterfly and 50m breaststroke. He also won silvers in the 100m fly and 50m freestyle events. The rest of his medals were won in the 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke and 100m breaststroke. Niranjan almost matched his own record of 10 medals in the tournament, which he set last year.
About Niranjan Mukundan
- Niranjan Mukundan was crowned as the Junior World Champion in the year 2015. He was born on 4 September 1994 in Bangalore, Karnataka with a physical deformity called Spina Bifida. He is an Indian para-swimmer and trains with fellow GoSports Foundation scholar and London 2012 paralympian Sharath Gayakwad, under coach John Christopher.
- With a physical deformity called Spina Bifida, it was a difficult journey to live with incomplete development of the spinal cord, and clubbed feet, but that did not deter Niranjan from dreaming big. With the support of his parents, he started learning swimming and progressed very quickly. Niranjan attended the Jain University in Bangalore for higher education, where he was given encouragement for training.
- The IWAS Under 23 World Games (formally known as the IWAS World Junior Games) offers young athletes a biennial multi-sport Games and often provides athletes with their first taste of competition against their international counterparts. The Games sustain the ongoing growth of young athletes with a physical disability worldwide, promoting their development in sporting pathways in the Paralympic movement.
- IWAS Under 23 World Games 2016 is held in Prague, Czech Republic between 29 June - 3 July 2016.