Odisha swimmers win multiple medals in South Africa

Bhubaneswar: Odisha swimmers Shristi Upadhaya and Mannata Mishra recently created waves in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Short Course Swimming Championships, South Africa where they created new best Indian Performance in women’s 100m butterfly and 100m breaststroke categories respectively.

While Shristi Upadhaya clocked 1:02.53 time to better the existing record of 1:02.78 held by Divya Satija, Mannata Mishra registered the best Indian performance in 100m breaststroke by clocking 1:12.90, bettering Chahat Arora’s 1:13.13.

Part of the 14-member team which included 11 swimmers selected from Odisha IIS Swimming High Performance Centre for the two-week exposure camp held at South Africa’s TuksSport High Performance Centre in Pretoria, Odisha swimmers dominated the provincial championships winning a total of 31 medals, including nine gold medals.

Training under the tutelage of Sandeep Sejwal, Asian Games medallist and Arjuna awardee, at Odisha IIS Swimming High-Performance Centre (HPC), the swimmers have made steady progress and exposure events like this will further benefit them.

Sejwal explains, “In order to create champions we need to create an environment for champions and that is why HPC plays a very important role. At the event we also got the first National Record for the Odisha swimmers, we are hoping this will have a very big and positive impact on the rest of the swimming community of Odisha as swimmers will start believing in themselves that they also can be national and international champions like Shristi and Mannata.”

Besides Shristi and Mannata, 11-year-old Shreyasi Das from Bhubaneswar won five medals of the six events she participated in, including three gold medals at the event. This was her first international exposure trip and competition and this feat is a big confidence booster for the youngster.

She was only seven years old when she enrolled for a summer camp at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. In a short span of time, Shreyasi showcased her potential by winning seven medals at the State Aquatics Championship and a silver medal in the 100m Breaststroke event of the Sub-Junior National Aquatics Championship earlier this year.

Talking about her progress, her mother Smita Das said, “For the last eight months, the Odisha IIS Swimming High-Performance Centre has been her training ground and look at how it is panning out. She has got international exposure for training (in South Africa), and she is in the main squad and has won medals in five of the six events she competed in. The HPC is very professional in their approach, they provide a physio and other support staff members. They also do regular health check-ups to monitor the swimmers’ progress and wellbeing.”

Even before being selected to train at the Odisha IIS Swimming HPC, Shreyashi has been training at Kalinga Stadium’s Aquatic Centre and honing her skills. According to her mother, for 2025 she will be aiming to better her time and become a regular member of the Indian National squad and compete in more international events.