A record 435 swimmers lined up at Prongs Reef in Colaba in the early hours of Tuesday to participate in the 6-km long Annual Navy Day Open Sea Swimming Competition.
A record 435 swimmers lined up at Prongs Reef in Colaba in the early hours of Tuesday to participate in the 6-km long Annual Navy Day Open Sea Swimming Competition. The all-India Open Competition attracted participation from swimmers from 11 states across the country. The competition was conducted under FINA (Federation Internationale de Nation) rules.
According to the officials, 561 swimmers had signed up, but only 435 could participate. The competition was conducted in 10 different categories — girls, boys (below 14), men, women and differently-abled persons.
Spectators at the Colaba Naval base witnessed 17-year-old physically challenged Swapnil Patil from Kolhapur emerge as the champion in the sea swimming competition for the fourth time. Swapnil’s legs stopped working after he met with an accident when he was 6.
Jagdish Teli (22), who has a paralysed leg, came all the way from Udaipur, Rajasthan to take part in the competition. He stood second. While talking to The Asian Age the winners said, “We wait for this competition every year. It is difficult as swimming in a pool gives you an idea about the distance and lights, but in the sea you are clueless.”
A senior citizen from Bangalore was among the top ten. Mutthu Krishnan (56) said, “Today I saw sea in my life for the second time. I have always swum in a pool, but today I experienced something that cannot be expressed.”
At 61, Manisha Tripathi was the oldest participant. An ex-banker from Ahmedabad stood second in veteran women sea swimming.
“I used to participate in national lebvel swimming competitions but only in swimming pools. My job never allowed me this much time to swim in the sea. After retiring from service, I was thinking of experimenting and then I heard of this initiative by the Navy. I thought of giving it a shots,” Ms Tripathi said.
