Nagpur's visually impaired swimmer Kanchanmala Pande scripted history for India on Dec 7, 2017.
Kanchanmala became the first Indian to win the gold medal in the World Para Swimming Championship.
She created ripples in the ongoing championship in Mexico and secured the top spot in 200 meters medley event in S-11 category.
Kanchanmala, who works with Reserve Bank of India (RBI), was expecting a medal at Mexico but a gold medal was totally unexpected.
Kanchanmala, the only Indian swimmer to qualify in the women's category, was unfortunate to miss the podium finish in other events.
She missed the top three finish by a whisker in 100 meters freestyle and finished fourth. She was fifth fastest in 100 meters breaststroke and backstroke.
The 26-year-old, was selected in the Indian squad on the basis of her excellent performance at the IDM Berlin Para Swimming Championship held in July at Berlin, Germany.
She won a silver medal in 200m individual medley.
Kanchanmala qualified for the World Championships in Mexico after she beat the qualifying mark in 100m Freestyle (1:34:00), 100m Backstroke (1:41:00), 100m Breaststroke (2:01:00) and a silver 200m Individual Medley (3:03:00) against top para-athletes in Berlin.
Kanchanmala, who hails from Amravati, is a regular swimmer of Aqua Sports Club, Nagpur.
