Shanghai, Oct 23 (IANS) Praveen Kumar beat Russel Diaz of Philippines in the 48kg category to become the first Indian man to win a wushu World Championships gold on Wednesday.

Praveen beat Diaz 2-1 in the men's sanda event of the 15th World Wushu Championships.

In the semifinal, Praveen had got the better of Uzbekistan's Khasan Ikromov 2-0 to set up the summit clash with Diaz.

--IANS dm/aak/in