N M Dhyan Kashyap with his coach Sundaresh Satyanarayana.
Credit: DH Photo
Mysuru: A physical challenge was no hurdle for 20-year-old N M Dhyan Kashyap, who made history as the first Asian para swimmer to conquer the 29-km stretch of Palk Strait.
Thanks to city-based national and international swimming coach Sundaresh Satyanarayana for his training, Dhyan’s own punctuality and determination, and the unwavering support and motivation from his parents.
“Dhyan, born with a rare congenital condition called Spina bifida, always dreamed of proving that the specially-abled can achieve anything—and inspire others like him,” shared coach Sundaresh. “He fulfilled that dream by successfully swimming from Thalai Mannar in Sri Lanka to Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu. Battling strong tides and drifts intensified by the full moon, he began his swim at 3:30 am and reached his goal at 2:45 pm on April 13—completing the 29-km stretch in 11 hours and 35 minutes.”
Sunderesh, head swimming coach at Khelo India State Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, is coaching Dhyan from two years at the centre for Asian games - 2026, Los Angeles Olympics-2028.
Sundaresh said that Dhyan is pursuing second BCom in Bengaluru. He started swimming nine years ago. He has participated in three international championships and won national medals eight times in S-10 category Paralympics. He has specialised in 100 metres 'butterfly', 'back stoke' and 200 metres 'free style' swimming. He swims for six to ten kms every day.
He added that Dhyan practised eight hours a day from three months to prepare for the mission to swim in Palk Strait. After availing necessary permissions from both Indian and Sri Lankan governments, Coast guard, Immigration and customs, they took up the mission. He was accompanied by four boats, including a mother boat, feeding boat, first aid boat and a Kayaking.
"When he joined the centre two years ago, he had expressed his wish to achieve this mission and parallelly prepared for this," Sundaresh said.
Sundaresh has already trained more than 5,000 swimmers in 26 years. He has trained four international swimmers, 12 state-level swimmers, 15 international swimmers so far.