Belagavi: Belagavi-based Jyoti S. Kori and her son Vihan achieved an impressive milestone by completing a 12-hour non-stop swimming relay, securing their place in both the Asia Book of Records and the India Book of Records.
The record-setting event was held at the KLE Suvarna JNMC Swimming Pool and organised by the Swimmers Club of Belagavi in collaboration with the Aquarius Swim Club Belagavi. Jyoti S. Kori, a State Government Para Medical Officer, and her son Vihan, a 6th standard student at St. Xavier’s High School, are both distinguished swimmers.
Their training was expertly guided by Coach Unmesh G. Khalagatagi and his team.
In another news, Siddhartha Agarwal became the oldest Indian swimmer to swim across the English Channel (between England and France), Swim Life said in a press release. The 49-year-old swam across the English Channel on August 29. The Bengaluru man took 15 hours and six minutes to complete the distance of 42 km.
When Siddhartha swam across the English Channel, he never anticipated becoming the oldest Indian to achieve this feat. His journey began in 2018, when he crossed the Channel as part of an eight-member relay team. Remarkably, this was also the year Srikaanth Viswanathan, from Bengaluru, entered the Limca Book of Records as the oldest person to swim the English Channel solo at the age of 46, as reported by news agency ANI.
Six years hence, Sid, as he is popularly known among the swimming fraternity, surpassed his compatriot to successfully complete the distance of 42kms. He took 15 hours and six minutes to complete the swim, with the last 10kms posing the greatest test of resilience as he had to battle rigid conditions, high tides due to a windspeed of approximately 25 miles per hour.
"Until I actually completed the swim, I never believed that I could actually do this. It took me a while for it to sink in. What worked for me was that I trusted my coach, I believed in the process and just focused on what I needed to do that week and that month," Siddhartha was quoted as saying in a release from Swim Life.It was the mammoth preparations for the solo swim under a taskmaster of a coach Satish Kumar, a former international swimmer himself, that was the most challenging.
"I was never a swimmer; at best I would splash around in the pool at my school as a kid. To inculcate the discipline and clock those regular hours in the pool despite my role as an entrepreneur in real estate and family commitments was the real challenge that excited me," he added.