Delhi’s young talent create ripples at swimming meet

Siddhant,attempting to emulate elder brother and India’s Olympic hopeful Sandeep Sejwal,gave his family enough reasons to start celebrating even before his cousin booked a spot at the London Games as Siddhant won the best athlete trophy at the state meet. The highlight of his achievements was the 50m backstroke,where he timed 31.63 seconds to break the meet record.

Following his brother into the Sarvodya School pool at the age of 10,Siddhant has been climbing the rankings even since. His victories at the state meet gain significance given that he hardly got any time to pratice. “For three weeks I had to rest after being diagnosed with typhoid and could practice for only six days before the tournament,” said Siddhant,who aims to better the 1986 Asian Games silver medal-winning record of Khazan Singh Tokas.

The journey could not have been more different for 13-year-old Akansha. If Siddhant had an elder brother to motivate his dreams in the pool,Akansha took to the sport purely to channel her extra energy. “She would keep jumping from one place to another as a kid and relatives often said she would be suited for sports,” says her mother Suneeta,who gave her the freedom to explore the pool.

Akansha finished runner-up behind Siddhant at the meet with five individual and two team golds, along with a team silver. “Earlier,I used to feel intimidated by the taller girls and those with better timings,but at this meet I was able to overcome them,” she said.

“A major reason for this improvement has been the drills and changes in technique that coach (MM Sharma) has initiated. For instance,he would send a shorter swimmer ahead of me and a taller one after. I was urged to swim past the younger one while maintaining my position vis-a-vis the taller one. Such drills helped me reduce my timings,” she said.

According to their coach,their powerful strokes give them the advantage over others. “They are naturally powerful and it works to their advantage,” Sharma said. In fact,the entire Sejwal clan has trained under him.

“Our entire family has trained under his guidance only. From Sandeep and Ritu (Sandeep’s elder sister and also a former national-level swimmer) to Siddhant,we have full faith in him,” Siddhant’s uncle Paramjeet Sejwal said.

Graduating from the fringes of the pool to the centre right under the coach’s eye,both have now set their sights on improving their performances and beating clock. With the open junior nationals starting next week,the victory at the state meet could not have come at a better time.