Tokyo 2020 Paralympic medalists Yogesh Kathuniya, Nishad Kumar, Praveen Kumar, and experienced Neeraj Yadav were among the medalists.
Team India clinched a total of 34 medals to end a successful campaign at the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports (IWAS) 2022 World Games conducted in Vila Real de Santo Antonio, Portugal. Out of the 34 medals, India collected 13 Gold, 12 Silver, and 9 Bronze medals. Tokyo 2020 Paralympic medalists Yogesh Kathuniya, Nishad Kumar, Praveen Kumar, and experienced Neeraj Yadav were among the medalists. Paralympic silver medalist Yogesh won two gold medals in Discus and Shot Put F56 disciplines. Another silver medalist Praveen claimed two golds in High Jump and 100m T44 events. While Nishad had to settle with silver in the men’s high jump T47 category.
The International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports (IWAS) World Games are a multi-sport event for disabled athletes that served as the forerunner to the Paralympic Games. The competition was previously known as the World Wheelchair and Amputee Games, the World Wheelchair Games, the International Stoke Mandeville Games, the Stoke Mandeville Games (SMG), and the Wheelchair Olympics in the 1960s and 1970s. The Games were founded in 1948 by neurologist Sir Ludwig Guttmann, who organized an athletic competition for World War II veterans with spinal cord injuries. The event, however, coincided with the first postwar Summer Olympics in London.
The World Wheelchair Games took place in 1999 in Christchurch, New Zealand. The Games were staged in Christchurch again in 2003, this time alongside a competition for amputee athletes organized by the International Sports Organization for the Disabled. In 2005, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, hosted the inaugural IWAS World Wheelchair and Amputee Games. The second IWAS Games were held in Chinese Taipei in 2007, while the third IWAS Games were held in November 2009 in Bangalore, India.
Read more: National Para Athletics Championships Yogesh Kathuniya: Records, Achievements, Milestones