On the surface, Sanjana Prabhugaonkar from Bambolim, is a quiet and shy 15-year-old girl but take her close to the swimming pool and she is quite literally like a fish to the water. Swimming since the age of seven, her strongest suits are freestyle and backstroke in swimming. A member of Team India junior swimming squad, she is not taking this opportunity lightly. Training at the Aqua Nation Sports Academy (ANSA) in Dubai, UAE, Sanjana is next heading to the 75th Senior National Aquatic Championship at Guwahati
in September.
With 94 gold, 35 silver and 17 bronze medals, Sanjana has made Goa proud of her achievements. Daughter of Manguesh and Sapna Prabhugaonkar, she is the younger sister to Muskaan and the only one in the family to take to swimming. “I was studying in Shiksha Niketan School, Porvorim, where we had a swimming camp. I did really well at the camp and I pursued swimming since then. I am currently, a student of The Ardee School, Sangolda, and I am studying in Class X. Since this is an important year, I will be studying online. The teachers are very encouraging and cooperative,
says Prabhugoankar.
In 2021, she was training for three months in Dubai and this year, she will be there for nearly seven months of the year. Her day begins at 4 am, she starts her swimming training at 5am followed by her gym training for one-and-half hours post 7am. She freshens up and sits in front of the laptop for her online school classes and then in the evening, she is back to the swimming pool for another two-and-a-half hours of training. “This has been my routine for almost three to four years now. Even when I am down in Goa, I make sure I follow the same regiment. I don’t miss out on my gym workouts. It gets quite difficult to go back to training after a break,” she adds. Prabhugaonkar trains at the Peddem Swimming Pool, Mapusa.
Her latest achievement for Goa was winning four silver and one bronze medal, totaling to five national medals in all her five events at the 48th Junior National Aquatic Championships 2022 in Orissa. She won her first silver medal in 200 metres freestyle, second silver medal in 100 metres backstroke, third silver medal in 50 metres backstroke, fourth silver medal in 200 metres backstroke and bronze medal in 100 meters freestyle. She faced tough competition from Ridhima Kumar from Karnataka. “Ridhima and I are part of the Team India junior swimming squad. We meet for various swimming competitions but we train separately in Dubai. I am currently undergoing full time competitive high performance swimming training in Dubai under the guidance and mentorship of swimming coach Pradeep Kumar, National Coach for Indian Swimming Team,”
says Prabhugaonkar.
She was selected for the Team India junior swimming squad in March and competed in the South African National Aquatic Championship in April where she earned her place in the Top 8. “Swimmers who performed well at the nationals last year made it to the squad this year. It was my goal all along to make it to the Indian team,” says the teenager, who can be spotted painting or drawing in her very limited free time.
Accompanied by her mother in Dubai, Prabhugoankar attributes her success in the swimming pool to good diet and training. “Swimming is my everything. I am completely at ease when I am in the swimming pool. I am blessed to have my parents and sister who are so supportive of my swimming career and of course my coach, Pradeep, who is training me
with different techniques,”
says Prabhugoankar.
From winning her first medal in Sanvordem to now over 140 medals, Sanjana is creating a place for herself in the swimming circuit as well as leading the way for young girls in Goa.
