Indian para swimmers create history, crosses Catalina Channel in USA
A group of para swimmers, led by Limca Record holder Satendra Singh, created history by becoming the first from Asia to cross USA’s Catalina Channel. Prior to this, a team from India has also crossed the English Channel last year, and four of those swimmers took part in this expedition as well.
One of the most popular open-water marathons, the Catalina Channel has been considered to equally challenging like the English Channel with the rough 20-mile distance between the California coastline and Catalina Island. It has also been considered to be one of the Triple Crown of open-water swimming titles, with the other two being the English Channel and the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim.
The Indian para-swimming team was led by Gwalior's para swimmer Satendra Singh on Monday. The team began their 42-km challenge at 10.57 pm from St Catalina Island and finish it at 10.30 am at Rancho Palo Verdes, Los Angeles, finishing it in 11 hours and 33 minutes.
"This is a dream come true for me. Best part is that we have completed the swim within 12 hours," said Satendra Singh, reported TOI.
Apart from Satendra, who was named in Limca Book of Records for conquering the English Channel last year, there were five others in the team. Four of them were on the side that crossed the English Channel last year. Apart from Satendra, there was Rimo Saha of Bengal, Jagdish Chandra from Rajasthan, Chetan of Maharashtra, Anjani Patel from Chhattisgarh, and Gita Choudhary of Maharashtra. Rohan More coached the team.