- The number of participants in Open Water Swimming at KIBG has gone up substantially this year
- For years, Open Water Swimming in India was more about expeditions than competition
- Now an Olympic discipline, the sport is attracting more pool swimmers
Diu, January 9: The mention of Open Water or Sea Swimming in India has traditionally brought to mind endurance feats made famous by pioneers like Mihir Sen and Bula Chowdhary, who conquered the English Channel decades ago. Over the years, swimmers braved routes such as Dharamtar to Gateway, aiming to etch their names into record books.
Those dreams suffered a setback when the English Channel imposed an age rule allowing only swimmers above 14 years to attempt the crossing, a guideline later adopted by most expeditions.
Maharashtra team manager Neha Sapte was among those affected. Having swum from Dharamtar to Gateway at just nine years of age before the rule came into force, she later shifted to shooting. “Because of that rule, I moved to shooting and I am happy that I went on to represent India in that sport,” she recalled.
However, Open Water Swimming has since evolved into a competitive sport. Introduced as an Olympic discipline at the 2008 Beijing Games, it now features 5km and 10km circuit races held in seas or rivers. This shift has played a key role in drawing pool swimmers towards the discipline and changing its focus from expedition to competition.
At the :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}, Anurag Singh of Uttar Pradesh and Ashmita Chandra of Karnataka clinched the gold medals in the men’s and women’s 10km Open Water Swimming races. Both athletes had earlier won medals at the Khelo India Youth Games and Khelo India University Games.
The duo prepared for the sea challenge largely in the pool, focusing on endurance training that involved spending six to seven hours in the water two or three times a day. Anurag clocked 2:22:02 seconds to secure the men’s gold, while Ashmita finished in 2:46:34 seconds to top the women’s race.
The challenge of shifting from pool to open water is underlined by the fact that the longest pool race is 1500m, while Olympic Open Water Swimming recognises only the 5km and 10km distances.
Ashmita, who has already competed in four Open Water Swimming World Championships, explained the technical differences. “The waves and the course are quite challenging in the sea apart from the distance itself. A day before the race, I prepare myself for the worst. It usually takes one lap to understand the tide, then I focus on my speed,” she said.
Organising an Open Water competition in the sea also poses significant challenges. Tide tables must be studied a month in advance and monitored weekly before finalising race timings.
“We have to pick the lowest tide difference to conduct the race because swimming in a loop can become too difficult if the current is too strong,” explained KIBG 2026 Competition Manager Rahul Chiplunkar.
Chiplunkar added that choppy waters create more glide, altering stroke mechanics compared to pool swimming, and swimmers must train to read direction and plan races according to tide size.
Anurag admitted he is still learning these technical aspects. “Sea swimming is new for me. I train in Delhi, where there is no sea, so all my preparation has been in the pool,” he said.
Chiplunkar, a member of the 2016 Sea Hawk Relay Team that swam 1000km from Mumbai to Mangalore, believes the inclusion of Sea Swimming in the Beach Games is drawing more athletes to the sport and highlights the need for a structured development pathway.
“The first Diu Beach Games had about 40 participants. That rose to 50 last year and now we have 70 swimmers in this edition,” he noted.
“India has a vast coastline and immense potential in Open Water Swimming. Seas in Goa and Karnataka are calm and ideal, but training is still a challenge due to permissions. If we can resolve that, we can produce many more international athletes,” he added.