Wuhan [China], Oct 27 (ANI): With the conclusion of the World Military Games here in China, India's chief of mission delegate SV Sheoran has expressed satisfied with the performance of the Indian contingent in the tournament.
Speaking to ANI about India's performance, Sheoran said: "Indian performance was very good this time around as we got six gold, one silver and three bronze medals which is by far our best performance in Military Games".
He also said that the schedule of the games was very tight this year, but added that the tournament provided perfect practice for the upcoming Olympics.
"109 countries took part in this competition and it is a very high standard. We had Olympic winners participating in the tournament. The performance of our athletes was way beyond excellence. I must admit that the schedule of season games was very tight this year. Olympics are nearby, athletes participated in the World Championships before this so they were tired," Deoran said.
He also lauded the infrastructure that was available for the tournament.
"Infrastructure was very good for the tournament. This is the best infrastructure that I have seen and the tournament was very successful. Our athletes got a tremendous amount of exposure from the tournament. The Sports Ministry had many schemes in place and it helped our athletes to give their best at the tournament," Deoran said.
Indian tennis player Sriram Balaji on Saturday claimed a bronze medal at the World Military Games 2019 after defeating his Uzbekistani opponent Fomin Sergey 6-2, 6-3 in the men's singles bronze medal contest.
On the same day, boxer Deepak had to settle with a silver medal after losing in the finals of the men's light fly 46-49kg weight category.
India also missed out on a medal in the men's 4x400 relay final after the quartet of Kunhu Mohammad, Santosh Kumar, Jabir Madari and Muhammed Anas finished fourth with a timing of 3:06.81s.
In the tournament, Subedar Anandan Gunasekaran won three gold medals for the country.
Overall, China ended the tournament with the most number of medals in the competition this year.
India participated in nine sports games in the competition. The nine-game events were archery, boxing, diving, modern pentathlon, shooting, TRAC and field, gymnastics, wrestling and tennis.
India won six medals in the last edition at South Korea in 2015 and Indian para-athletes won three medals in the previous editions. Before this edition, India had taken part in three editions of the military games in 2007, 2011 and 2015.
In 2007, India had hosted the 4th edition of the games in Hyderabad with 101 nations participating in the event.
Russia, Germany, France and Brazil are the veterans in CISM World Military Games.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on October 18 had inaugurated the 7th Military World Games.
During the opening ceremony, five-starred red flag, the emblem of the games and the flag of International Military Sports Council were displayed. The ceremony also saw march by athletes from all the countries.
A total of 35 venues were built for the soldiers' Olympics. Of the 35 venues, 13 were newly built, 17 were reconstructed using sites formerly operated by the city and local universities, and five were temporary facilities.
The theme for the 7th Military World Games was 'Military Glory and Peace'. The first military world games were inaugurated in Rome in 1955, and since then, it is held in every four years by the International Military Sports Council or CISM.
The CISM was founded in 1948 and now 139 member states across four continents participate.
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