Satendra Singh crosses English Channel, creates history
India’s Satendra Singh created history on Sunday by crossing the English Channel on Sunday. Singh was the part of a swimming relay team which consisted of three more para swimmers and for the first time saw four para swimmers from India cross the English Channel in 12 hour and 26 minutes.
Interestingly, 29-year-old Singh was the first person in India with 75 percent disability to complete the 36-km Arabian Sea swim. Despite his inability to use his lower limbs, Singh was ready to take on the 36 km Dover Strait swim in the English Channel. Singh has also received Madhya Pradesh’s highest honor the Vikram Award in 2014 when he had won 16 medals in para-swimming competitions across the state.
Singh was only two months old when he got affected by pneumonia. Also, it was the doctor’s negligence which saw him lose the lower portion of his body. But that did not bog him down as he had the courage and the belief to make do with whatever he had. His financial status is not so good as his father is a farmer, who sold his land to get his son appropriate treatment. He has been working as at the post of LDC in the Cell Tax Department.
M Rahman Baidya of Kolkata(West Bengal) was the first swimmer in the world, as a double amputee below the knee to cross the strait of Gibraltar. He took 4 hours 20 minutes to emerge victorious in his battle against waves in the difficult strait of
Singh also has a dream of doing well at the Asian Para Games in Jakarta in 2018 and Tokyo Paralympics Games in 2020.