Winning for India most satisfying

While I was on top of the world on receiving the gold, the sense of pride proved secondary compared to what I achieved as part ofthe 1970 team at the 1970 Bangkok Asiad. It was for the first time that an Indian waterpolo team was being sent to the Games and things were anything but smooth. The first major blow came when we learnt that we would have to play with a rubber ball. Till then we had been playing with the leather ball. Forget playing, it was the first time that we had seen a rubber-ball for waterpolo.

A lot of people had written us off and it was not surprising since it was our first foray in international water-polo. In fact there were some who told us to book our return tickets in the next two days. We eventually won the silver after losing to Japan in the final.

And it was that moment on the podium, seeing the Indian tri-colour flutter which will remain the most exhilarating and cherished moment of my life.I had achieved a lot in my career, but the dream of swimming the English Channel had yet to become a reality. I swam a lot of channels around the world but felt that none was as challenging as the English Channel,thanks to it’s unpredictable nature.

And the day finally arrived when I could realise my dream of conquering the Channel. The day was August 27, 1974. I was given an option, the day before, to either start the swim at 10.00 p.m. or the next morning, before dawn. Since I had not prepared myself to swim in the dark and it was a once in a life-time chance, I decided to play it safe and start the next morning.I started the swim from Calais at 4.00 a.m.. I must have swum for a good seven hours when trouble started. Though my destination was very much in sight, strong currents from the north started hampering my progress. So much so that I must have been swimming at the same place for quite some time, quite oblivious about it.

It was then that my escort boat changed the direction. Instead of trying to swim through the current, they led me to swim with the current diagonally across.

For a swimmer in those rough sea waters it is practically impossible to understand any change in direction and the only thing onehas to do is follow the escort boat’s directions. And after some time I found that instead of swimming towards the coast, I was going almost parallel to it.

I just could not understand why they were doing that. I was gritting my teeth furiously, thinking all along that the escort launch was making a mistake.

But I had little option. One of the things that kept me going were my colleagues at Air-India. It was they who had part-financed my trip and there was no way I could let them down.

Finally I reached the English coast of Dover, after almost 16 hours of continuous swimming. But the ordeal was not over. The point where I reached had a graveled beach and for technical reasons I had to come out of water alone. But I could barely stand, forget about walking. So I literally crawled out of the water.

The next 10 minutes are very hazy in my memory. But the mission was accomplished, the dream realised….I fell unconscious. Time for a good night’s sleep.

(Avinash Sarang is a former National swimmingchampion, conqueror of the English Channel and was part of the silver-winning water polo team at the 1970 Asian Games)