On the morning of April 30, while braving the choppy waters of the Palk Strait between Sri Lanka and India, seven-year-old Ishank Singh looked up at his mother, Manisha Sinha, in the support boat and declared he could see India. The shoreline was still 10 km away. For the next hour, despite powerful currents pushing him off his course, the Ranchi boy kept repeating the same words. “I can see India. I have almost reached,” he kept telling Manisha.
Nearly 10 hours later, Ishank completed the 29km crossing in nine hours and 50 minutes, earning recognition from the Universal Records Forum (URF) as the Youngest and Fastest Palk Strait Swimmer.
The Palk Strait poses one of open-water swimming’s toughest tests, with unpredictable currents, jellyfish and rapidly changing weather threatening the swimmer’s success. Adult swimmers often spend months preparing for the crossing.
Preparing a seven-year-old required just as much determination. “Before Ishank, I knew very little about swimming. Most of what we know today was learned along the way,” says Manisha, who works in a hospital management department.
She researched the sport herself, contacted coaches and navigated months of paperwork to secure permissions for a minor to participate in an international open-water event. “The approvals arrived barely two weeks before the swim began,” she says.
Ishank’s coach, Aman Kumar Jaiswal, spotted his unusual capacity of endurance early. “What stood out immediately was his enthusiasm and consistency. He naturally gravitated towards continuous freestyle swimming and showed remarkable endurance,” says the 28-year-old coach.
For four months, Ishank trained in Ranchi’s Dhurwa Dam before heading to Rameswaram to practise in sea conditions, learning to read tides and how to deal with poisonous jellyfish. The entire expedition from training and travel to logistics was funded by the family.
In the final stretch of his swim, when the coastline seemed no closer despite hours of swimming, one thought kept the little swimmer going.
“Ishant’s biggest motivation to continue was that an Indian Coast Guard hovercraft was waiting at the finish,” Manisha says with a laugh. “That excitement helped keep his spirits high.” He finished the swim. Then, delighted, he climbed aboard the hovercraft.
Back home, his achievement has brought pride and accolades. “At just seven-and-a-half years old, Ishank has accomplished something extraordinary,” says BN Jha, principal of JVM Shyamali, where Ishank studies. “In Ranchi, world-class swimming infrastructure is limited, which makes Ishank’s record even more remarkable.”
For Jaiswal, the record is only the beginning. “Every challenge we placed before him, he has embraced. Watching Ishank transform his talent into a world record has been one of the proudest moments of my coaching career,” he says. The next dream is crossing the English Channel, for which the minimum age is 14. Until then, Ishank’s mornings begin at 5.30 am with running, stretching and hours in the pool—building, stroke by stroke, to reach another horizon.