Tisya becomes Odisha’s youngest scuba diver
BHUBANESWAR: A 12-year-old Odia girl based in Dubai Tisya Panigrahi has become the State’s youngest junior advanced open water scuba diver.She dived to a depth of 70 feet in the Gulf of Oman on June 8 on her birthday this year after she turned 12 years old, making her eligible for the advanced licence. She dived into the sea at the Martini Rock dive site on UAE’s east coast and was accompanied by her father Priyadarshee Panigrahi, a certified scuba diver.
On completing five dives, the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) awarded her the Junior Advanced Open Water Scuba Diver licence on June 9. Tisya completed the course at Al Boom Diving, Al Aqah, Fujairah, UAE. “I enjoy scuba diving and the underwater world fascinates me. Being a junior open water diver, I was allowed to dive upto 12 metre/40 feet. However, I was keen to explore further and dive like adults who could dive to 18 metre/60 feet. I was looking forward to turning 12 years old so that I could do the junior advanced course and dive up to 21 metre/70 feet,” said the Sambalpur-born Tisya.
PADI is the world’s largest scuba diving training and certification organisation. Founded in 1966 in Illinois, US, it operates in 186 countries with more than 6,600 dive centres and resorts.Tisya is the granddaughter of former State Minister late Sriballav Panigrahi.