“The duo participated in the biathlon category held for boys and girls separately,” said Manoj Kamble, Secretary, Starfish Welfare Association, Thane, where the swimmers were trained.
Two Thane boys have won gold medals at the 2016 Modern Pentathlon World Championships held in Sarasota, USA in October. The two swimmers—Savar Akuskar, 9, and Vedant Gokhale, 10—struck gold in the under-11 open category.
“The duo participated in the biathlon category held for boys and girls separately,” said Manoj Kamble, Secretary, Starfish Welfare Association, Thane, where the swimmers were trained.
The modern pentathlon competition comprises running, swimming and shooting. “The modern pentathlon is an Olympic-level game which is popular across the world. The number of sportsmen participating in it has been increasing across India,” says Namdev Shirgaokar of the Modern Pentathlon Federation of India.
The two boys formed part of the 16-player Indian contingent, of which eight were from Thane. They participated in the biathlon open category event, where they had to run for 800 metres, then swim 100 metres, and then run again for another 100 metres.
Over 500 entrants from 28 countries competed in the Championships, held from October 18 to October 24.
The winners returned to India recently and were felicitated in Thane by State Guardian Minister Eknath Shinde, Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) Commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal and others. “It was because TMC provided the required infrastructure, including a swimming pool and ground for training, that our players were able to achieve this feat,” says Kamble.
This was the second medal for Savar, who also won a bronze medal for India at the 2015 World Championships at Batumi, Georgia.
The players are now training to participate in the next championships to be held in Goa by MPFI in January-February 2017.
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