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SPORTS
Eternal India
encyclopedia
clubs used to conduct inter-city tournaments and there used to be a
regular exchange of club teams for competitive purposes between
Calcutta and Bombay, and vice versa. The National Swimming
Association, which conducted the first National Championship in
Bombay in 1944, also got affiliated to the Federation Internationale
de Natation Amateur (FINA).
The Swimming Federation of India (SFI) was formed in 1948
with P.L. Ahir as the first general secretary. The FINA affiliation
was then transferred to this apex body for the promotion of swim-
ming in India. The first task of the SFI was to send an official Indian
team to the 1,948 London Olympic Games. The contingent included
both swimmers and a water polo team. India also took part in the
swimming and water polo competitions of the 1952 Helsinki Olym-
pic Games. Two women (Dolly Nazir and Arti Shah) were also a
part of the swimming squad. India’s next participation in an Olym-
pic Games was at the 1988 Seoul Olympiad, where the country was
represented in swimming by the one-man squad of Khazan Singh
Tokas. The onus of conducting the national championship also fell
on the SFI and it has been conducting the the nationals successfully
on an annual basis. Air Chief Marshal Arjan Singh, the then
’president of the SFI, added a new dimension to the national cham-
pionship by introducing the junior category in 1974. The SFIalso
introduced the sub-junior category in 1984 and now national swim-
ming championships are conducted under various age groups (be-
ginning from eight) in the sub-junior and junior categories, apart
from an open senior nationals in which even up and coming junior
swimmers can participate.
Though Indian swimmers have not earned much of a reputation
in the international scene, there have been significant individual
performances, especially in long distance swimming. The biggest
contingent of Indian swimmers participated in the ninth Asian
Games at New Delhi, when Indian swimmers took part in swim-
ming (men and women), diving (men and women) and water polo
(men) competitions. Before this-, the country’s participation in the
Asian Games swimming competitions was irregular, especially
after the first two Asiad meets in which the Indians participated.
Indian swimmers won four gold medals in the first Asian Games in
1951 at New Delhi. Subsequently India had to wait till the 1986
Seoul Asian Games, when Khazan Singh won the silver medal in
the 200 metres butterfly stroke event.
The Indians, however, have been a dominant force in the South
Asian region haying topped in all the South Asian Federation
Games held so far. To Khazan Singh also goes the credit of claiming
the maximum number of golds in a single international meet.
Khazan won eight gold medals including two relay golds in the first
South Asian Federation Games at Kathmandu in 1984.
The Indian juniors and sub-juniors have been participating in
the Asia-Pacific age group championships for the last three years
and have been winning medals under the various age group catego-
ries. While recording the history of Indian swimming it must be
noted that Golwala of Bombay, P.L. Ahir (West Bengal) and Nurul
Hassan (Assam) played a key role in the development of swimming
as a competitive sport in the early formative years.
Among many long distance records stands out the name of
Mihir Sen, who has distinguished himself as the only swimmer in
the world to have crossed several straits in a single year. On 5th
and 6th April 1966, he crossed the Palk Strait between India and Sri
Lanka, on 24th August , the Straits of Gibraltar (Europe-Africa),
on 12th September the Dardanelles (Gallipoli to Sendulbahir,
Turkey) and on 29th to 31st October, 1966, he also swam the Pan-
ama Canal. Mihir Sen had swum the English Channel, the first
Indian to achieve the feat, on 27th September 1958.
While Arati Saha became the first Indian woman to cross the
English Channel in 1959, Arati Pradhan at the age of seventeen
became the first woman in the world to swim the 30 kms Straits of
Gibraltar on 29th August, 1988 with a timing of seven hours and 17
minutes. Special mention must be made of Taranath Shenoy and
K.Janaki, who overcame their own physical handicaps and success-
fully crossed the English Channel. Taranath Shenoy, a deaf-mute,
also became the first such person in the world to swim across the
30-km, shark-infested Straits of Gibraltar on 4th August, 1988.
On 6th August, 1988, two Maharashtra youngsters, Abhijeet
Rao (then aged 12) and Naina Mallapurkar (then aged 15) suc-
cessfully swam across the 47 kms English Channel, in the process
becoming the youngest Asians to achieve such a feat. On 10th Au-
gust, 1988, Archana Patel at the age of 13 became the first Indian to
win a gold in the international marathon swimming meet in Swit-
zerland. Another notable achievement is that of Swamini Kamul-
kar, who also at the age of 13, covered the 36-km distance between
Dharamtar to the Gateway of India using only the backstroke style.
Other Indians to swim the English Channel: Dr. Bimal Chandra,
Nitindra Narayan Ray, Avinash Sarang, Bijoy Jain, Shailesh Kialje,
Arati Pradhan, Anita Sood, Rajeev Gadgil, Rajesh Gadgil, Harsh
Thakore, Rajaram Ghag, Anil Desai, Abhijit Datey and Bula Ch-
oudhary.
Arjuna Awards:
Bajrangi Prasad, Rima Datta, Arun Shaw,
Baidyanath, Bhanwar Singh, Dhanvir (Tingoo) Khatau, Avinash
Sarang, Manjari Bhargava, M.S. Rana, Smita Desai, Persis Madan,
Anita Sood, Khazan Singh, Taranath Shenoy, Arati Pradhan,
Wilson Cherian and Bula Choudhary.
National Aquatic championships
MEN
Event
Name
Units
Time
Year
50 m Free Style
Sebastian Xavier
Railways
0:23.34
1992
100 m FreeStyle
Sebastian Xavier
Railways
0:53.96 (R)
1992
200 m Free Style
Khazan Singh
Police
2:00.10
1988
400 m Free Style
J. Abhijit
Police
4:16.39
1994
1500 m Free Style
J. Abhijit
Pplice
16:56.84
1994
100 m Back Stroke
Wilson Cherian
Railways
1:01.47
1991
200 m Back Stroke
Bhanu Sachdev
Delhi
2:13.14
1994
100 m Breast Stroke
Sebastian Xavier
Railways
1:08.52
1994
200 m Breast Stroke
S. Radhakrishnan
Police
2:34.04
1985
100 m Butterfly
Suresh Kumar
Railways
0:57.79
1994
200 m Butterfly
Suresh Kumar
Railways
2:08.31
1994
Stroke
Khazan Singh
Police
2:01.11 (H)
1985
200 m Individual
Sebastian Xavier
Railways
2:15.27
1994
Medley
400 m Individual
J. Abhijit
Police
4:49.58
1994
Medley
4X100 Free Style
-
Railways
3:44.53
1992
4X200 Free Style
-
Railways
8:21.15
1994
4X100 Medley
Railways
4:07.18
1994
Diving: Spring Br.
Satish Jhambhulkar
Services
470.55 pts
1992
High Board
S ameer Choudhry
Delhi
448.38 pts
1988