CHENNAI: How does it feel to be the parents of champions? One should ask Sarvepalli Krishna Pranav and Ahamed Azraq’s parents. The Chennai lads claimed individual championships in the CBSE South Zone swimming competition at Pooja International School, Prodduttur, in Andhra Pradesh.Pranav, who took part in the U-14 category, sealed top spots in the 50m and 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, and 200m medley, while Azraq was the best among the U-17 swimmers in 100m, 200m, 800m freestyle, 400m medley and 200m individual medley.
“I am very happy and feel proud whenever Pranav stands on top of the podium. I can’t ask for anything better. I want him to bring in laurels for the country,” said Pranav’s mother S Geetha, who had encouraged her son to take up swimming as a career from the time he began showing interest in the sport. When Pranav started swimming in 2010, he was 33 kgs and overweight for his age. Pranav wanted to fix this issues and went through a drastic body transformation. “With grit and determination, Pranav first focussed on reducing his weight. He is now working hard to seal the top spots in different tournaments,” said Pranav’s mother. The 13-year-old student of Sir Mutha Memorial School has been practicing at ORCA since 2012 and his coach, KK Mukundan, believes that Pranav will compete on an international level in the near future.
After a series of tremendous performances in the south zone swimming meet, Azraq has been listed
for the CBSE national swimming championship which will commence from November 22 in Ranchi.
Water is Azraq’s first love affair. The 16-year-old has been swimming ever since he was a four-year-old, and trains for six to seven hours a day.
“Azraq works really hard. He has been practicing for around seven hours a day for five years now. He swims for three and a half hours in the morning and goes to school and returns directly to pool and practices for another three-and-a-half hours again,” said B Girish, Azraq’s coach, who hopes that his pupil can become a part of the national squad that will take part in the next Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.Either way, these two Chennai-based swimmers have proven that they are worth keeping an eye on.
Transformation and schedule
When Pranav started swimming in 2010, he was 33 kgs and overweight for his age. Pranav went through a drastic body transformation, and has been practicing at ORCA since 2012. Azraq has been swimming ever since he was a four-year-old, and trains for six to seven hours a day. To other students, who have only eight-hour days, Azraq’a 15-hour daily schedule seems tedious.