Good show by Indians at World Police and Fire Games

Belfast: Indian Police sportspersons got off to an excellent start at the XV World Police and Fire Games 2013 at Belfast, Northern Ireland, pocketing 12 gold medals by the end of the second day of the meet.

The 39-member Indian team is taking part in a number of disciplines -- athletics, archery, boxing, judo, swimming and wrestling. The first medal was pocketed by S I Nandar Anand Divase of BSF on Saturday after he finished on top in the men`s 400m freestyle swimming by clocking 4:12:21 minutes. Divase followed it up by another gold by also winning the men`s 200m individual medley in 2:19:12 minutes. Indian team comprising Divase, Rohit Kumar of CRPF, Rajvir Singh of Punjab Police and Tulse Chetanya of Andhra Pradesh Police then went on to win the 4x50m freestyle relay in 1:44:26 minutes. Rajvir Singh bagged a silver in men`s 50m butterfly. In athletics, India ended up with two medals on the first day. Long distance runner Anuradha Singh won a gold in 5,000m for women, while Tajinder of Punjab Police stood second in Hammer Throw event for men. The second day saw the Indians adding as many as eight gold, four silver and three bronze to their kitty. While Ravinder Rautela of Uttarakhand Police pocketed the gold in 1500m for men, S Sini of Kerala Police emerged victorious in 200m for women. Mukesh Rawat of Uttarakhand Police (5000m for men), Chinchu Jose of Kerala Police (1500m for men) and Anuradhapura Singh (5000m race-walk for women) -- all won silver medal. The World Police and Fire Games are the third largest international multi-sport event in the world and are being held in the European continent for the first time. The games are organised by the World Police and Fire Games Federation since 1989. It is open to all working and retired police and fire department personnel from all over the world. More than 7,400 athletes and sportspersons from 56 countries are participating in the Games. Other Indian winners are: Gold: Mandar A Divase (BSF) in 1500m freestyle swimming, M Tulasi Chaitanya (AP Police) in 100m freestyle swimming, T H Kalpana Devi (ITBP) in U-52kg category in judo, L Nirupama (CRPF) in 63kg category in judo, C H Jina Devi (SSB) in 78kg in judo. Silver: M Tulasi Chaitanya (AP Police) in 100m back-stroke swimming. Bronze: Rahul G Pillai (Kerala Police) in 100m sprint for men, Neha Singh (CISF) in hammer throw for women, Rajbir Singh (Punjab Police) in 100m backstroke swimming, Avatar Singh (Punjab Police) in 90kgs category. PTI