Kanchanmala Pande clinches gold at World Para Swimming Championship 2017

Kanchanmala Pande from Nagpur, the visually impaired swimmer, has scripted history by becoming the first Indian to win gold at the World Para Swimming Championship in Mexico on December 7, 2017. Pande, who works with Reserve Bank of India (RBI), stood first in the in 200 meters medley event in S-11 category. In the World Championships that started on 2nd December 2017, Pande was the lone female swimmer from India to have qualified for the event. She was qualified for this championship after she brought home silver at the IDM Berlin Para Swimming Championship in July 2017. With this, she was selected to represent India in the 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 100m breaststroke and 200m individual medley categories. Unfortunately, she missed a podium finish in the 100 metres freestyle and came 5th in the breaststroke and backstroke category.