Mumbai: Jiya Rai, daughter of a senior sailor of the Indian Navy, brought laurels to India again, when she became the world's youngest and fastest female para swimmer to successfully swam solo across the English Channel.
Jiya, a 16-year-old girl with Autism Spectrum disorder, is the daughter of Madan Rai, MC-at-Arms, serving at Mumbai.
She covered the gruelling 34 km stretch, from Abbots Cliff in England to Pointe de la Courte-Dune in France, in 17 hours 25 min from 28 to 29 July, 2024.
She has dedicated her exceptional conquest of the English Channel to raising awareness about autism.
She has many inspiring achievements to her credit, including swimming across the Palk Bay earlier.
The Indian Navy and the Mumbai-headquartered Western Naval Command have congratulated her for the feat and extended best wishes.
Despite having a disability, she is an international open water para swimmer and holds a world record in open water swimming.
She is on a mission to become the world first and youngest para swimmer to swim seven oceans.
Between 17-29 December 2022, she swam 1,100 km as a six-members relay team from Mumbai to Goa and back to Vasai Fort in 11 days 22 hours and 13 minutes. She was the youngest and only female participant of this team.
Jiya has brought laurels to India before by swimming across Palk Strait in world record time from Talaimannar (Sri lanka) to Dhanuskodi (India). She completed a distance of 29 km in 13 hours and 10 minutes on 20 March 2022.
She achieved this feat at the age of 13 and became the world's youngest and fastest female swimmer to swim across the Palk Strait.
Jiya has earlier held three world records in Open Water Swimming in 14 km, 22 km and 36 km para Category. her swimming record was appreciated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Mann Ki Batt.
Her swimming achievements have been registered in Asia Books of Records and India Books of Records.
Jiya Rai is recipient of many international and national awards including prestigious Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar (PMB) - 2022 a highest award of citizen below 18 years of Age.
In the last three years, Jiya has won 32 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze Medal in the National and State Open Water Sea Swimming Championship.
Published 29 July 2024, 13:20 IST