R Mahesh and Giridharlal Yadav of Indian Navy created history by winning India's first ever gold in the Military World Games, triumphing in the military sailing event here on Friday. France and Spain claimed silver and bronze medals respectively.
Having established a clear lead in four races out of the total eight races conducted at the Indian Naval Watermanship Training Centre, the Indians were well placed to land the gold on Friday.
Mahesh and Yadav had a penalty of 10.5 points while Pauchet Nicolas and Besson Biloly of France were placed below the Indians with 19 points penalty.
Spaniards Francisco Javier Soto Loureiro and Jose Medina Ruiz ended with a penalty of 25 points for the bronze.
Mahesh and Yadav had raised hopes of a medal on the first day itself, having won the first two races comfortably. Russia did cause a surprise, winning both the races on Thursday but that did not deter the Indians on the final day.
It was another feather in the cap of Mahesh, who had won a gold in the Enterprise class at the Busan Asian Games in 2002.
He had also won a bronze in a sailing competition in Russia recently, apart from emerging champion at the 40th Military Sailing Championships at the same venue in Mumbai last year.
