Shoan Ganguly, resident of Mapusa, has once again scripted his name in the National record books at the 34th Glenmark Sub Junior Aquatic Championship 2017, held at Balewadi, Pune, recently.
Shoan, a Bengali who has made Goa his home, created three new National records and claimed four gold medals.
In conversation with Herald, Shoan, who trains at Peddem under Goa Swimming Association coach and father Surajit Ganguly, said, “Swimming is my world and Michael Phelps is my hero. My inspiration is my father.”
Taking the pool in the 100 metre butterfly, Shoan timed 1:02:75, new meet record, thereby erasing the old record set by Sanjay CJ (Karnataka) of 1:03:65. In the 200m individual medley, he clocked 2:23:20 to break the old record set by Swadesh Mondal (Bengal), who had a timing of 2:26:73, while in the 50m butterfly, he established a new meet record with a timing of 00:28:61, surpassing Basatab Bordoli’s (Assam) timing of 00:28:71.
Besides, he also won a gold medal in 200m freestyle with a timing of 2:08:48.
“I was confident of winning gold in my three pet events – 100m butterfly, 200m individual medley and in the 50m butterfly. Winning another gold medal in the 200m freestyle was a bonus,” Shoan said.
In 2015, Shoan had created two National records in 200 IM and 50 breaststroke and received championship at the Sub-Junior National Championship, Pune.
Shoan started swimming at the age of two-and-half along with his father.
“I used to go to the pool with my father from where I got a habit of playing in the water, but I learnt to swim properly at the age of three,” Shoan said.
“I love swimming. I train four to five hours a day along with my father. Two hours in the morning and two to three hours in the evening, depending on my other activities,” he added.
In the 2016 Sub-Junior National Championship at Bangalore, Shoan had bagged a silver in 100 fly and bronze in 200 individual medley (IM).
“My next mission is to qualify for international events,” Shoan concluded.
