KOCHI: Imagine you are travelling in a boat and it begins to sink? You would probably wish that you had learned swimming. Liyana Fathima Umar Nizar, a 12-year-old swimming prodigy, is making waves with passion for the sport. The student of the Global Public School, who began swimming when she was in the first grade, is impressive to watch. “I was actually very scared of the water when I was a young girl. But later, the interest slowly built up.”
Liyana Fathima Umar Nizar recently won two silver medals in the 50-meter freestyle and 50-meter butterfly category. She also secured fourth place in the 200 meter butterfly category in the 44th National Junior Aquatic Championship held in Pune at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Sports Complex. The medals in this category, have come to Kerala, after 10 years.
Liyana represented Kerala after qualifying in the Kerala State 34th Sub Junior and 44th Junior Aquatic Championship held in Thiruvananthapuram in May 2017 where she won five gold medals with five state records in the 50 meter, 100 meter and 200 meter Butterfly category and 50 meter and 100 meter in the freestyle category.
Concentrating in academics as well as practicing for her favourite sport was not easy for her.”I had to train intensely for six hours every day. My motto is ‘Don’t quit. Face difficulty now and live the rest of your life as a champion,” said Liyana. The young swimmer is being trained under the guidance of Santhosh Kumar,chief swimming coach, of Global Public School.
Liyana’s parents say she had been a promising kid since a very young age. “We noticed she would swim faster than older kids even when she was only in Class 1. We had set our hopes on her since then a young age. Of course, it was a gradual improvement,”said Umer Nizar, Liyana’s father. Liyana’s mother is Rahila Nizar and they are Vennala residents. The student holds 10 Kerala State Records and two CBSE National records.