Twelve-year-old Tanay Tushar Lad from Parel, made ripples in the water, by swimming from Gateway of India to Atal Setu, in a record time of 2 hours,26 minutes and 37 seconds. Indian swimmers are not making waves in the Olympics but have the potential to do so in International open water swimming, as demonstrated by this young powerhouse of talent. The power and grace with which he skimmed through the ocean waters manifested the budding talent for Ocean Water Swimming in India, a perfect concoction of speed and endurance.
Tanay dipped his feat to set out on hi voyage from Gateway of India, with the tide strongly in his favour.
What was truly commendable is that Tanay clocked the route in a time quicker than an average time a professional swimmer would take for this expedition. It was a feat of herculean scales and displaying phenomenal tenacity. Hard to envisage swimmers swimming single legs of a relay in spilt times as quick as our young hero. Masters Swimming champion Zarir Baliwala categorsied Tanay’s performance in the very highest bracket. Being a channel Swimmer myself I rank it as a stupendous feat. ,and truly remarkable for a twelve year old.
The accomplishment is a fitting tribute to his dedication. It had it’s roots in intensive training undertaken from the tender age of six, He would commute daily from Panvel to Palara , his training centre. Tanay epitomized qualities of hardwork and dedication.
His training began under the tutelage of former channel swimmer Rupali Repale, just at the time of breakdown of Covid. He would embark on his training from 6 in the morning and often travel to Nerul Gymkhana for training. He traversed a distance of 45km, four days a week, to undergo his practice. Tanay received training under the guidance of Rupali Repale and Aniruddha Mahadik., at the Rupali Repale training centre, for a period encompassing five years. Rupali played an instrumental role in nurturing his talent and motivating Tanay to the optimum level. Commendable that a past stalwart like Rupali Repale could marshall resources to enable this generation to resurrect her glory.
Tanay studies at New Horizon Public school, which gave him considerable support.
His notable previous accomplishments have been in wining silver medals in open water competitions, from Sunk Rock to Gateway of India, Periyar Kochi, Vijaydurg and Rarkala and in securing a bronze medal in the International oceanman competition at Krabi, in Thailand. He is a prospective candidate for several more laurels. with many future expeditions lined up for him. Tanay has the potential to bloom into a truly great Ocean Water Swimmer and join the hall of fame in Sea Swimming. He could well one day pose a challenge to the record times of the Great Ocean swims like The English Channel or Palk Strait. He is capable of carrying the baton of past swimmers who achieved glory in Sea Swimming in my days like Anita Sood and Bijoy Jain.
Through this accomplishment Tanay has continued the legacy of Indian swimmers who have made waves in Ocean Water swimming at a very tender age like his mentor Rupali Repale or other Channel Swimmers like Abhijit Rao, Naina Malahpurkar, Aarti Pradhan and Rihen Mehta. Let us hope that he dies not fade out like so many young champions in aquatics, earlier.
Tanay is a source of inspiration for budding swimmers, manifesting how through relentless perseverance, path-breaking achievements are possible.
Harsh Thakor is a freelance journalist. who swam the English Channel, Lake Zurich and Dharamtar to Gateway of India in 1988.
