IPC World Athletics: Aled Davies wins shot put gold in Doha

Aled Davies threw a new championship record in the F42 shot put to win Britain's first gold on day one of the IPC Athletics World Championships.

The Welsh 24-year-old, who had hernia surgery 10 weeks ago, defended his title with a best of 14.95m in Doha.

Iran's Sajad Mohammadian was in front after throwing 14.54 but Davies's 14.88 in the penultimate round put him ahead.

"If you had told me 10 weeks ago that I would be here and be world champion, I'd have taken that," he said.

"I have to thank the British Athletics medical team for getting me here. The rehab was long and I only picked up the shot three or four weeks ago so to come here and deliver a half-decent throw and win, I'm happy with that."

Davies was the first Briton in action on the first day of the 10-day competition and will also take part in the discus next Wednesday.

"It was a tough competition for me and I wasn't at my best," he told BBC Sport.

"I started panicking early because I wasn't executing the way I would have wanted, so after the third round I just went out and tried to throw as hard as I could.

"It meant I had to sacrifice a few technical things but it all paid off and hopefully I can do the same in the discus and come away with another gold."