City swimmer Pranjal Tathawade nurtures a dream of someday representing her country at the highest level of international competition. I want to be the best swimmer in the world, the ten-year old quips. Having just won three medals at her first ever national-level competition,Tathawade certainly seems to be on the right track. The youngster won a gold medal in the 4 X 50 metre medley relay,and another in the 4 X 50 metre freestyle relay at the National Swimming Championship held between July 12 and July 15 at Bangalore,Karnataka. Besides the two team golds,she narrowly missed a third gold medal in the 50-metre Butterfly competition,settling for the silver by a fraction of a second. I hadnt even expected to qualify for the Butterfly event,and I was very happy when I stood first in qualifying, she said. Winning a medal was a real bonus,and I didnt mind that I missed out on the gold narrowly, she added. In fact,the young swimmer was not part of the original team for the freestyle relay,but got called up to the competition because one of the regular members got sick at the last moment. Tathawade is a Std. VI student of the Abhinav Vidyalaya English Medium School,Pune,and has been swimming since she was just four years old. She currently trains at the Deccan Gymkhana under her coach Shekhar Khasnis. The main reason I love swimming is that it is an excellent exercise. I know that if I continue swimming and winning medals for the next few years,I will be in good health for the rest of my life, she stated.
