PANJIM: Mandar Divse and Nikita Prabhu swam to glory to clinch the top honours in the 10km men and women events respectively, at the Swimmathon 2015 organized by premier sports management firm Square Off Sports Pvt. Ltd under the aegis of Goa Swimming Association, at Colva beach, on Sunday.
Sajan Prakash and Pooja Kumre secured the first places in the 5km men and women events respectively. The four winners will be representing India at the FINA World Championship.
Almost 600 swimmers from across the country participated in the open sea, swimming a distance of 10 km, 5 km, 1km and 250m dream swim.
The event was of greater significance, as a platform for identifying and nurturing the most promising Indian talent, with Swimming Federation of India recognizing Swimmathon 2015 as the Indian Selection Trial for FINA World Championship.
The race was officially supported by Goa Tourism. Lending added credibility to the event, Pradeep Kumar currently serving as the Indian National coach, was roped in as the official Race Director.
Ashish Agarwal, Managing Director of Square Off Sports said, “As fitness becomes a way of life, an increasing number of people are looking for opportunities for adventure and testing their own limits. Open water swimming is the newest Olympic sport and given the right attention, we are confident that India can excel at the International level.”
Adding dash of excitement and athletic prowess to the event, the race saw participation from eminent National Swimmers like Virdhawal Khade – one of India’s most accomplished swimmer, Arjuna Awardee, and Asian Games medallist; Sajan Prakash – known as Indian Michael Phelps who created history by winning six gold and three silver medals at the Indian National Games; Mandar Divase – India’s best long distance swimmer and a gold medallist at South Asian Federation (SAF) Games and Talasha Prabhu – Goa’s ace swimmer who was also in the Indian squad in the Commonwealth Games New Delhi in 2010.
Also present were Nikhil Desai, Managing Director – Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC), Vinay Borkar of Goa Swimming Association; Sawinder Pal Singh Vilkhoo, LIC; Yogesh Lakhani, Bright Outdoors; D Raju, Bank of India and Joseph Reddy, Hiranandani Group.
