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Indian Swimmers : Most Famous Indian Swimmers of All Time
Indian Swimmers List: India has produced quite a number of swimmers who have excelled in Asian as well as Commonwealth Games. Our performance in swimming has been steadily improving for the last several years and our players are able to match with the international stars of other countries.
List of Best Swimming Players in India
Some of the current prominent names in Indian swimming are listed below:
#1. Virdhawal Khade
When we look at the current swimmers, Virdhawal Khade is one of the most accomplished swimmers in India. Born in Kolhapur, Maharashtra on 29 August 1991 this young swimmer has represented India in Asian, Commonwealth, and Olympic games. He specializes in freestyle swimming and has competed in 50, 100, and 200 meters freestyle in the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing, where though he lost, he set an Indian national record in 100 meters freestyle. One of the notable achievements in his career was winning a bronze in the 50 meters butterfly category at the 2010 Asian Games, Guangzhou which was India’s first medal in swimming after a gap of 24 years. He was felicitated with the Prestigious Arjuna Award in 2011 by the Government of India.
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#2. Sajan Prakash
Sajan Prakash is a talented swimmer from Kerala, who came into the limelight with a bang in National swimming, winning 6 golds and 3 silver, thereby creating a National record for the most number of medals. He competes in Freestyle and Butterfly events. He had also won gold and silver medals in the Asian age group and Indoor swimming. One of his notable achievements is holding an Asian games record in 800 meters freestyle.
#3. Sandeep Sejwal
Sandeep Sejwal is a Devnagari, Karnataka born Swimmer, who is the Senior National Champion and Indian National record holder in 50m, 100m, and 200m Coached by Nihar Amin in Bangalore, he has won silver medals in 50m and 100m breaststroke events at the Asian Indoor Games 2007. He also qualified in the swimming events for the 2012 London Olympics after timing 1:02.92s in the 100m breaststroke event at the 14th FINA World Championships conducted in Shanghai.
#4. Rehan Jehangir Poncha
A specialist in backstroke, butterfly, and individual medley events, Rehan Jahangir Poncha is also one of the top-level swimmers in India. He has been a five-time national champion and a 6-time national record holder. He received the Arjuna Award and Dronacharya award also, for his contribution to coaching. He was a member of the relay team which created a national record in 2009 Foshan Asian games Medley and Freestyle events, along with Virdhawal khade, Aaron D’Souza, and Sandeep Sejwal.
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#5. Shikha Tandon
Shikha Tandon has a remarkable record of 146 National medals and 36 medals in international events. Tandon competed in the Asian games at the young age of 13 and won her first World Championship at the age of 16. She set a new record in the 200m individual medley in Junior National Aquatic Championship in 2001. In the Athens Olympics, she had qualified for 50m and 100m freestyle, which was a first for the Indian female swimmers. In the year of 2005, she held 7 national awards and was awarded the prestigious Arjuna Award in the year 2006.
#6. Anshul Kothari
Born with a chronic flat foot condition, Anshul Kothari was advised to undergo surgery, but his parents took a bold step by making him participate in physical activities. Soon, he developed an affinity towards swimming and was able to win medals in national-level tournaments. He has won gold and silver at the South Asian Games and Asian age group Championships respectively. In the year 2006, he was awarded the coveted Sardar Patel award and the Junior Eklavya award in 2014.
#7. Bhakti Sharma
Bhakti Sharma is an adventurous swimmer, who has swum across all the five mighty oceans. She is the first Asian woman to set a record in open swimming in the Antarctic ocean by breaking the record of Lynne Cox and Lewis Pugh. In the year 2010, she was lauded with the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award.
#8. Nisha Millet
Nisha Millet is a swimmer from Bangalore. She was the sole woman in the Indian swim team at the Sydney Olympics, 2000. In the year 1994, she had won the first international medal at the Asian Age group Championship, Hongkong which marked a high point in her career. She has been felicitated with numerous awards such as the Arjuna award, Rajyotsava award, Karnataka State Eklavya award, etc.
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Best Swimming Players in India from Past
Some of the renowned Indian Swimmers List from the past are:
#9. Mihir Sen
Mihir Sen, one of the greatest ever long-distance swimmers in the world, was born in Purulia, West Bengal. He was one of the iconic figures for the youth of his generation. He was the first Indian to swim across the English Channel in the year 1958 with the 4th fastest time. His greatest achievement was swimming across the oceans of five continents in one calendar year for the first time ever in 1966, which landed him in The Guinness Book of records. For his superlative achievements, he was awarded the Padmashree, Padma Bhushan, and Blitz Nehru Trophy.
#10. Bula Choudhury
Bula Choudhury is another famous Indian long-distance swimmer from Hugli, West Bengal. She is the first woman ever to swim across the seven seas. She has also crossed the mighty English Channel twice. She was lauded with the prestigious Arjuna Award and Padmashree award. Apart from making a strong image in the swimming sphere, she was also elected as the MLA in the year 2006 in West Bengal.
#11. Khajan Singh
The first Indian to win a silver medal at 1988 Seoul Asian games in the 200-meter butterfly, Khajan Singh is considered as one of the top swimmers that India has ever produced. Being the undisputed king of national swimming, his other great successes came in the south Asian games where he had won a stupendous seven gold medals. He was awarded the Arjuna award in the year 1984.
This is a limited list of prominent swimmers from India. However, there are quite a number of equally well-known swimmers who have also excelled in national and international events.
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