Kenisha Gupta Practically Grew Up In A Swimming Pool, Now She's Won Three Gold Medals At Khelo India Youth Games
The future looks bright.
When Dr Vishal Gupta and his wife Pradeepti took their daughter Kenisha to a swimming pool close to their home in Mumbai, expecting medals from their child was the last thing on their minds.
All the couple wanted was some sleep for their daughter who was a restless child. Almost 10 years later, it is proving to be the best decision of their lives as Kenisha finished her Khelo India Youth Games campaign with three gold medals in as many events.
¡°We shifted to London when she was one. Since you have to keep your child in the adjacent room there, Kenisha used to get up at 1 am or 2 am and never used to go back to sleep. It became a routine for her and later she used to sleep only for two-three hours a day, despite playing the whole day,¡± said Kenisha¡¯s mother.
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¡°When we came back to Mumbai three years later, we took her to a swimming pool and let her play in the water the first day. We were surprised to see that she slept the whole night for the first time. It was then we decided to put her at an academy so that she could swim regularly and sleep at night,¡± Pradeepti added.
Kenisha, now 15, won eight medals at the senior National Championships in Kerala last year, and won gold in 100m butterfly, 200m individual medley and 100m freestyle events at the Khelo India Youth Games at Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex in Balewadi.
¡°I am a different person when I am in water. I am calm and at peace. I feel I am a water baby,¡± Kenisha said after clocking 27.28 seconds to win gold in U-17 girls¡¯ 50m freestyle event. Delhi¡¯s Shivangi Sharma was second with a timing of 27.92s, while Bihar¡¯s Mahi Swetraj won bronze with 28.04s.
The Mumbai swimmer trains at Nihar Amin¡¯s Dolphin Aquatics, under coaches Sandeep Sejwal and Vinod Nair.
It was a double delight for Tamil Nadu in weightlifting as T Dharshini and S Rudra Mayan won gold medals in U-21 and U-17 girls¡¯ categories, respectively.
While Dharshini lifted 192 kgs in the 81kg category, S Rudra Mayan clinched the yellow metal in 102+ weight group by lifting 269 kgs.
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Overall, hosts Maharashtra kept the No. 1 position in the medals tally and maintained a big gap with Delhi. At the end of the day, Maharashtra had 59 gold, 48 silver and 59 bronze (total 166). The hosts added 3 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze medals.
While Delhi added eight medals to take their tally to 115 (43 gold, 31 silver, 41 bronze) and Haryana were third with 107 medals (36 gold, 34 silver, 37 bronze).
