INDIA FINISH DEAFLYMPICS 2017 WITH BEST PERFORMANCE IN A DECADE

INDIA'S BEST FINISH IN 12 YEARS

The Deaflympics (previously called World Games for the Deaf, and International Games for the Deaf) is an International Olympic Committee (IOC) sanctioned event at which deaf athletes compete at an elite level. The 2017 edition of the games was held in Samsun, Turkey from 18th to 30th July.

INDIA WINS 5 MEDALS IN DEAFLYMPICS

India had sent a strong contingent of 46 athletes in Samsun. India finish at 26th Position in Medals Tally, winning five Medals(1G, 1S, 3B). It is the best performance by Indian Deaf athletes team in a decade. In 2013 & 2009, India won only a solitary Gold and a Bronze respectively. And both time, the medal winner was legendary 'Goonga Pehelwan' Virender Singh, who has returned with a Gold Medal this time too, making it 4 out of 4 straight medals in consecutive Deaflympics. India last won multiple medals in Deaflympics, 12 years back, in 2005 edition of the games, where they bagged 7 medals in total, including 3 Gold.

INDIAN MEDAL WINNERS IN 2017 DEAFLYMPICS:

1. Wrestling-

Three Medals in Wrestling- 1Gold & 2 Bronze

A)74kg Freestyle-Virender Singh(GOLD)

He beat S.Chakvetadze(Georgia) by 18-9 points in the final bout.



B)65kg Freestyle-Ajay Kumar(BRONZE)

Ajay Kumar beat A.Babayan(Armenia) by 10-0 points



C)97kg Freestyle-Sumit Dahiya(BRONZE)

Sumit Dahiya bagged the other bronze by beating Ghamar Pour (Ireland) by 10-0 points.

READ | Legendary 'Goonga Pehelwan' Makes India Proud Again

2.Golf-

Diksha Dagar won SILVER 

This is the first time that golf is a part of Deaflympics.

Diksha Dagar won SILVER in Women's Individual golf event.

She got a bye in Quaterfinals and then defeated Germany's Gonzalez Podbicaninin Semifinals to set up final clash with Yost Kaylin. Diksha started well, breaking field record in first round with two-under 68 and she was up by 3 after 6 holes, but Kayin came back to level terms after 9 holes. The score was tied after 18 holes. And it was in the play-off that Diksha lost out to Kaylin and settled for a Silver.

3.Tennis:

A)Mixed Doubles Pair Prithvi Sekhar/ Jafreen Shaik won BRONZE defeating 2nd seeded Chinese Taipei pair 6-4, 6-3

OTHER NOTABLE PERFORMANCES IN 2017 DEAFLYMPICS:

1.Athletics:

A)Indian team of Jijo Kuriakose, Srikrishna Mahata, Ajeesh Subhash and Yadukrishnan Ramachandran reached Final of 4*100 m Relay

B)Yadukrishnan Ramachandran reached Semis of 100m

C)Saravanan Karthik and Gursimran Singh Sidhu finished 8th & 9th respectively in Men's High Jump

2.Tennis:

Womens Doubles Pair of Parul Gupta/ Madhu Jaiswal lost to Turkey 3-6, 2-6 in Bronze Medal Match.

3.Shooting:

Monika Verma finished 5th and Priyesha Sharadrao Deshmukh 6th in 10m Air Rifle

INDIA'S HISTORY AT DEAFLYMPICS:

Participated in 9 Deaflympics before this edition and won 33 medals in total(17G, 7S, 9B)



1981,Köln - 3 Medals(2S, 1B)

1985,Los Angeles- 1 Medal(1B)

1989,Christchurch- 3 Medals(2G, 1S)

1993,Sofia- 7 Medals(5G, 2B)

1997,Copenhagen- 7 Medals(3G, 3S, 1B)

2001,Rome - 3 Medals(3G)

2005,Melbourne- 7 Medals(3G, 1S, 3B)

2009,Taipei - 1 Medal(1B)

2013,Sofia - 1 Medal(1G)



Awards/Records:

1.Rohit Bhaker became the youngest medal winner and Gold Medal winner in history of Deaflympics when he won Gold in Badminton at age of 12 years and 8 months in Copenhagen Deaflympics, 1997



2.Four Deaf athletes have been confered with Arjuna Awards till date:

a)Satish Kumar- Athletics(1990)

b)Rajeev Bagga- Badminton(1995)

c)Rohit Bhaker- Badminton(2013)

d)Virender Singh- Wrestling(2016)

3.Rajeev Bagga is the most successful athlete for India in Deaflympics. He has won mammoth 16 medals(14G, 1S, 1B) in badminton across 6 consecutive Deaflympics.

He won 2G in Christchurch 1989,

4G in Sofia 1993,

3G in Copenhagen 1997,

3G in Rome 2001,

2G & 1B in Melbourne 2005, and

1S in Taipei 2009.