India's Prasanta Karmakar made history on Wednesday by clinching the first ever medal in a paralympic event of the Commonwealth Games.
The 30-year-old from Haryana took the bronze in the 50m freestyle, finishing behind Matthew John Cowdrey (Australia) and Jay Simon Miller (England) even as the crowd at the Dr. S.P. Mukherjee pool lustily cheered Karmakar all the way.
Cowdrey finished at the top spot with a new World record time of 26.33s even as Miller (26.70s) and Karmakar (27.48s) followed behind the Australian. Sachin Verma, India's second entrant in the race, finished eighth and last at 29.37s.
Karmakar attributed his medal-triumph to the support received from the swimmers of the National team.
“It is nice to have won a medal. The credit for this should go to swimmers like Sejwal and Khade, with whom I have been practising. Their efforts have been motivating. I am also happy that both my parents could be present here today as I won the first ever medal for the country,” he said.
