Nagpur, Jan 10
A visually impaired swimmer Ishwari Pande brought laurels to the city by displaying fabulous performance in open sea swimming competition jointly organised by Shriram Swimming Club Porbandar and Swimming Federation of India. 12-year-old Ishwari participated in 5,000 mt event and swam the distance in 3.55 hours to win a silver medal. In 10,000 mt event she completed the distance in 39 minutes and won silver medal. She received a standing ovation from the spectators and also walked away with Rs 14,000 cash prize. Another deaf and dumb swimmer 20-year-old Pranav Lohane participated in 1000 m event and completed the distance in 15 minutes. He clinched silver medal and received Rs 7,000. Those other swimmers who participated in the event include Nidhi Salbarde, Bhakti Thepekar, Anshika Dwivedi, Chitra Patil, Aryan Patil, Amol, Tirthak Janve, Sagar Chaple, Ishwar Pande, Atharva Raut, Tirtesh Meshram, Vinati Bhingare, Vishesh Bhingare, Viraj Bhingare, Arnav Naktode, Arnav Telrandhe, Dhhannanjay Chinchalkar, Prof. Shashikant Raut, Dr Nirav Pandya, Amol Salbard, Sanjay Batwe and Vilas Phale.
All the swimmers have been trained under the guidance of Sanjay Batwe of Shark Aquatic Association.