China's sightless Li sets world record to win 50m freestyle gold

China's Li Guizhi set a new world record to win gold in the women's 50m freestyle S11 at the Rio Paralympics.

The 23-year-old, who is visually impaired, clocked 30.73 seconds on Monday to beat the previous record held by Liesette Bruinsma of the Netherlands, reports Xinhua.

Sweden's Maja Reichard took silver in 30.76 and the Ukraine's Maryna Piddubna shared bronze with Bruinsma after both hit the wall in 31.23.

"I feel very animated and happy because I have been training for a long time for this and it was very difficult for me," said Li, who won silver in the same event at the London Paralympics four years ago.

"My coach helped me a lot because two months ago I had an accident. My toe broke and I had an injury and for 20 days I could not walk and my coach helped me a lot. She never gave up on me," he added.

--IANS

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