‘Was committed to win gold for country,’ says Pooja Kadian, India’s first Wushu World Champion
Pooja Kadian scripted history as she became the first Indian sportsperson to win a gold medal at the Wushu World Championships on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old, an ace Central Reserve Police Force’s (CRPF) Wushu champion, finished on top of the podium in the 75 kg women’s Sanda Category after defeating Evgeniya Stepanova of Russia in the 14th edition of the World Championships held at Kazan, Russia.
She had defeated Egypt’s Heba Abdelkader 2-0 in the semifinals en route to the finals. After her return to India, the 26-year-old said that she had practiced extremely hard to win gold for the country.
“It was very tough at the World Championships. There was too much pressure on me. But I am happy, I gave my best,” said Pooja. “I have been training very hard for this from the last six months. All my coaches trained me really well,” she added.
Even before, she has shown her field competence in Wushu by bagging a number of medals in both national and international events. While Pooja had won gold in the 12th South Asian Games, she had also bagged silver medals in the World Games 2013 and the World Championship in 2013 and 2015. Besides, she also won gold …read more