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Sayani Das remembers her late coach after swimming across English Channel

Sayani Das has put her name in the bracket of country's exceptional swimmers like Mihir Sen, Arati Saha, and Bula Chowdhury.

By Sujata Sarkar

Kolkata, July 29: Sayani Das has put her name in the bracket of country's exceptional swimmers like Mihir Sen, Arati Saha, and Bula Chowdhury.

The 19-year-old girl from Burdwan district returned on Friday (July 28) afternoon after having crossed prestigious English Channel.

Sayani Das remembers her late coach after swimming across English Channel

Sayani took 14 hours eight minutes while swimming from London to the coast of France.

On Friday after returning from London, Sayani shared her experience with the media and said, “Initially it was good. But after swimming for around 10 hours continuously, I had to face chilled water which had a tremendous undercurrent.

"The temperature reduced to below zero all of a sudden and my hands and legs almost got choked. Still, I did not take the help of my support staff for that was the initial obstacles I had to overcome. Around half-an-hour of swimming I had to face the bites of jellyfish! And it gradually started increasing a lot and it became difficult for me to continue swimming."

Sayani Das was the student of famous Para-Olympic swimmer Masudur Rahaman Baidya.

Masudur, who passed away in 2015, could not cross English Channel due to financial problems.

Sayani seemed bit of emotional after having landed at the airport.

Sayani Das swims across English Channel

"Today, Masudur sir's words are echoing in my mind, repeatedly. He was so optimistic on my swimming that he used to often predict that one day will come when I will cross English Channel, and I'll fulfill his dream."

Sayani informed she trained in the Ganga river under the observation of local coach Tamal Das.

She added, “I used to swim almost 10 hours a day. I became adamant of crossing the 34 kilometer journey in one attempt. So I never gave up. Even, when the poisonous jellyfishes were biting me I did not stop."

Incidentally, after the end of her swim, Sayani got unconscious for a few minutes.

OneIndia News

Story first published: Tuesday, August 22, 2017, 12:22 [IST]
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